Afghanistan

Kinship and Livelihood Networks

In traditional Afghan social life, networks are built around kinship, a fluid and constructed notion that extends genetic structures and includes relationships of genealogy and choice. Patrilineal concepts such as qawm (tribe) and khel or zai (clan) are as much part of kinship structures as are cultural rule sets like Pashtunwali, a function of which is to help organize marriage relationships. As a broader concept, ethnicity plays an important part in kinship. Examples of strong kin-based social networks can be found in the Hazarajat, the ethnically [Page 10]relatively homogeneous home of the Hazara in central Afghanistan, and the so called Pashtunistan, a belt mainly inhabited by Pashtuns to the east and west of the border with Pakistan.

Livelihood networks that overlap with the organizational functions of kinship are relationships around the household and the village that relate to farm production, trade, and exchange. Links within livelihood networks are established not only because of group sustenance but also because of geographical proximity.

The advent of a modern state brought modernity and urban life to Afghanistan and formed a contrast to tradition and rurality. Modernity certainly did not invalidate traditional networks; it rather added an additional layer. Tribes needed to regulate their relationships with the state bureaucracy for taxation and military purposes, and the rural population were exposed to a new urban elite in its formative days. British military expeditions into Afghanistan in the 19th century—and mere propinquity to India and Persia—created various opportunities for contacts between locals and foreigners as well.

Political and Ideological Influence

At the outset of the Cold War, development aid poured into Afghanistan from Western states and the Soviet Union. However, these development ties brought about dependence on foreign aid, effectively ending the existence of Afghanistan as a modest but self-sustained economy and increasing the pace at which Afghanistan became heteronomous. The most notable development in this era is the founding of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) in 1965, which marked the advent of political parties and added an additional network layer onto Afghan society. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, a variety of political parties resisted occupation. These parties were often given an Islamic touch and were led by charismatic leaders. Aided by allies in Pakistan, the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, mujahedin leaders began to misuse their parties as vehicles for personal enrichment and power, spawning social links that were incompatible with resistance to Soviet occupation within and among the parties they led.

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