EFSAS STUDY PAPER - A Genealogy of Governance and Insurgency in Afghanistan

The image of Afghans as somehow not quite as deserving of the preservation of human dignity conveniently stuck with subsequent invaders: From the Soviet to the American occupations that followed the British one in the course of the 20th and 21st centuries, the contempt and vileness by which foreign troops have met Afghan civilians, as manifested in a shocking disregard for ‘collateral damage’ – i.. [...] The ascent of the Taliban thereby may be understood as a prevailing of the latter; the reason for this, in the present interpretation, being the consistent failure of progressive reformers to account for the interests and realities of Afghan (rural) life. [...] While this did work for the time being and allowed Rahman to stay in power for 20 years before he, as the last ruler of Afghanistan, retired from power peacefully, it hardly provided a sustainable model of governance, and it seems almost natural that once the British withdrew their support to the Afghan government in the wake of decolonization the system unravelled: the period of the decades betwe. [...] Invasions: In the Claws of Bear and Eagle During Afghanistan’s however slow-paced modernization and the accelerating institutionalization of the State in the period between its independence (1919) and the Soviet invasion (1979) when Afghanistan was a constitutional monarchy, an educated class had emerged, most of whose members had migrated to urban centres while the large share of the A Genealogy. [...] The aforementioned Durand Line, that is, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, proved pivotal to the Taliban: the state of lawlessness at the frontier and the well- established cross-border smuggling networks between Pashtun tribes on both sides of the border offered safe routes for the transport of weapons and fighters between Afghanistan and Pakistan.