Afghanistan - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies
Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s history, people, culture, and demography/geography and their implications to the present conflict in the country has important implications for the United States. Afghanistan is a country of enormous complexity with a population that is fiercely independent. Much of the complexity is due to ethno-linguistic fragmentation of the country. Afghans speak over 20 languages from 4 major language groups, many with a multitude of dialects. Afghanistan has also been a complex “melting pot” of Slavic, Indian, Persian, Turkish, Arab, Central Asian, and European personages.
The Pashtuns, representing approximately 42 percent of the population, are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. Ethnic Tajiks represent 27 percent of the population. The Hazaras, represent another 9 percent. Other groups -- such as the Aimaks, Turkmen, Baluch, Uzbek, and others comprise the rest. The country is almost totally Muslim with the Sunni Muslims representing 80 percent of the population and Shi’s Muslims representing 19%. Afghanistan is an example of the older form of Islamic society where religion is not an ideology but an all-encompassing way of life.
The country has been in continual and violent conflict since the 1970s. By 1992 there were more personal weapons in Afghanistan than in India and Pakistan combined. By some estimates more such weapons had been shipped into Afghanistan during the previous three decades than to any other country in the world. Sadly, an entire generation of Afghans has known little other than conflict as their society with a long and proud culture was hijacked by guns, drugs, thugs and interlopers. This near continuous conflict in addition to Afghanistan’s vast, remote regions have made it attractive to extremists and terrorists in search of a relatively safe and secure haven for refuge, training, and a base of operations.
The September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington refocused attention on Afghanistan (at least until Iraq made it a “forgotten war” in Spring of 2003). While the initial years of US operation in Afghanistan known as “Operation Enduring Freedom” (OEF) was accompanied by much optimism, the last 10 years have seen very disturbing trends in Afghanistan. The country is locked in a significant insurgency wrapped in the narrative of jihad – much of which US Policymakers still don’t fully understand. And the Kabul Government continues to have a very difficult time instituting meaningful political reform and development anywhere in the country. Much of this is a reflection that the Kabul regime is viewed by the much of the population as being illegitimate and extremely corrupt. Finally, it must be recognized that a fundamental problem in Afghanistan today is that the Taliban are out governing the Kabul regime in many parts of the country. The Taliban’s shadow justice system has been particularly effective and respected by many Afghans. This recognition in conjunction with the fact that the NATO and US never really pursued an effective population centric strategy has left Afghanistan in an extremely precarious situation.
The geography of Afghanistan consists of some very hostile terrain of vast mountains, barren deserts, and remote valleys. Rugged terrain has traditionally allowed for distinct ways of life beyond control of state central rule. Afghanistan shares a 1400 mile border with Pakistan that has been the focus of much controversy and conflict.
Like its geography, the county’s weather is also dramatic with hot summers and frigid winters.
According to Thomas Barfield, Afghanistan is made up of two types of “societies.” The first is a desert civilization in “marginal zones” whose existence depends on subsistence agriculture and pastoralism and are organized around kinship. Here kinship ties are extremely important to all aspects of Afghan life. The second Afghan society is sedentary and is based on the surplus of agricultural production. This Afghan society exists primarily in river valleys and Afghan cities and is based on hierarchical social classes. Urban (25%) versus rural (75%) populations has long been a defining factor of the Afghan polity.
Louis DuPree in his seminal book Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, Fourth Printing, 2004, pp. 5-32) describes eleven Afghan “geographic zones”: the Wakhan Corridor – Pamir Knot; Badakshan; Central Mountains; Eastern Mountains; Northern Mountains and Foothills; Southern Mountains and Foothills; Turkestsan Plains; Heart-Farah Lowlands; Sistan Basin – Helmand Valley; Western Stony Deserts, and; Southwestern Sandy Deserts.
For our purposes we will simplify Afghanistan and break the 34 provinces of Afghanistan into four regions: Northern, Southern, Western, and Central Afghanistan.
The Provinces of Afghanistan via Wikipedia
Province |
Centers |
Population (2015) |
Area (km²) |
# Districts |
U.N. Region |
|
Badakhshan |
Fayzabad |
950,953 |
44,059 |
29 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Badghis |
Qala i Naw |
495,958 |
20,591 |
7 |
West Afghanistan |
|
Baghlan |
Puli Khumri |
910,784 |
21,118 |
16 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Balkh |
Mazar-i-Sharif |
1,325,659 |
17,249 |
15 |
North West Afghanistan |
|
Bamyan |
Bamyan |
447,218 |
14,175 |
7 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Daykundi |
Nili |
424,339 |
18,088 |
8 |
South West Afghanistan |
|
Farah |
Farah |
507,405 |
48,471 |
11 |
West Afghanistan |
|
Faryab |
Maymana |
998,147 |
20,293 |
14 |
North West Afghanistan |
|
Ghazni |
Ghazni |
1,228,831 |
22,915 |
19 |
South East Afghanistan |
|
Ghor |
Chaghcharan |
690,296 |
36,479 |
10 |
West Afghanistan |
|
Helmand |
Lashkar Gah |
924,711 |
58,584 |
13 |
South West Afghanistan |
|
Herat |
Herat |
1,890,202 |
54,778 |
15 |
West Afghanistan |
|
Jowzjan |
Sheberghan |
540,255 |
11,798 |
9 |
North West Afghanistan |
|
Kabul |
Kabul |
4,372,977 |
4,462 |
18 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Kandahar |
Kandahar |
1,226,593 |
54,022 |
16 |
South East Afghanistan |
|
Kapisa |
Mahmud-i-Raqi |
441,010 |
1,842 |
7 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Khost |
Khost |
574,582 |
4,152 |
13 |
South East Afghanistan |
|
Kunar |
Asadabad |
450,652 |
4,942 |
15 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Kunduz |
Kunduz |
1,010,037 |
8,040 |
7 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Laghman |
Mihtarlam |
445,588 |
3,843 |
5 |
East Afghanistan |
|
Logar |
Pul-i-Alam |
392,045 |
3,880 |
7 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Maidan Wardak |
Maidan Shar |
596,287 |
9,934 |
9 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Nangarhar |
Jalalabad |
1,517,388 |
7,727 |
23 |
East Afghanistan |
|
Nimruz |
Zaranj |
164,978 |
41,005 |
5 |
South West Afghanistan |
|
Nuristan |
Parun |
147,967 |
9,225 |
7 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Paktia |
Gardez |
551,987 |
6,432 |
11 |
South East Afghanistan |
|
Paktika |
Sharana |
434,742 |
19,482 |
15 |
South East Afghanistan |
|
Panjshir |
Bazarak |
153,487 |
3,610 |
5 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Parwan |
Charikar |
664,502 |
5,974 |
9 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Samangan |
Samangan |
387,928 |
11,262 |
5 |
North West Afghanistan |
|
Sar-e Pol |
Sar-e Pol |
559,577 |
16,360 |
7 |
North West Afghanistan |
|
Takhar |
Taloqan |
983,336 |
12,333 |
16 |
North East Afghanistan |
|
Urozgan |
Tarinkot |
386,818 |
12,696 |
6 |
Central Afghanistan |
|
Zabul |
Qalat |
304,126 |
17,343 |
9 |
South East Afghanistan |
For more reports, websites and analyses on Afghanistan see these sources: Brookings Institute, Institute for Study of War, and Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit.