Ethinicy and civil society in contemporary Afghanistan

Middle East Journal

Volumn 59, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 31-51

  Riphenburg, Carol J ^a  

^a Oakton Community College and College of DuPage   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL SOCIETY; ETHNICITY; NATIONAL POLITICS; POLITICAL INSTABILITY;

AFGHANISTAN; ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; SOUTH ASIA; WORLD;

EID: 14044269978     PISSN: 00263141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3751/59.1.12     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Not only the citizens of failed states suffer; the failings of states also pose enormous dangers beyond their own borders, witness the events of September 11, 2001. See: Robert I. Rotberg, ed., State Failure and State Weakness in a Time of Terror (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003).
2. The United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), with military force provided by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
3. Daniel N. Posner, "The Colonial Origins of Ethnic Cleavages: The Case of Linguistic Divisions in Zambia," Comparative Politics 35, No. 2, January 2003, pp. 127-28.
4. The following section discusses the size and make-up of Afghanistan's groups, i.e., the ethnic landscape.
5. James D. Fearon and David D. Laitin, "Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War," American Political Science Review 97, No. 1, February 2003, pp. 75-76.
6. Kumar Rupesinghe, "Governance and Conflict resolution in Multi-ethnic Societies," Ethnicity and Power in the Contemporary World, ed., Kumar Rupesinghe and Valery A. Tishkov (Ed.), (Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 1996), pp. 10-31.
7. Joseph Rothschild, Ethnopolitics: A Conceptual Framework. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1981). Cited in Rupesinghe.
8. Donald L. Horowitz, "Patterns of Ethnic Separatism," Comparative Studies in Society and History 23, No. 2 (1981). Cited in Rupesinghe.
9. United States Institute of Peace (USIP), "Lethal Ethnic Riots: Lessons from India and Beyond," Special Report 101, February 2003, pp. 1-12. Donald L. Horowitz's research was published at length in The Deadly Ethnic Riot (Santa Barbara: University of California Press, 2001).
10. Karzai has become increasingly outspoken against warlord dominance, saying they represent a greater threat to Afghanistan than the insurgency in the south. Many Afghans had assumed that Karzai would choose the most prominent warlord, Vice President Marshal Muhammad Fahim, leader of the Shura-i Nazar and Minister of Defense, as his first vice presidential candidate in presidential elections, scheduled for October 9, 2004. Yet, on the very day of the deadline for presidential candidates's nomination, Karzai (and the US) broke with Fahim, choosing a younger brother of the assassinated, charismatic Ahmad Shah Mas'oud, founder of Shura-i Nazar. The alliance between Karzai and Shura-i Nazar had often been troubled; but it dominated Afghan politics since the fall of the Taliban. Nonetheless, Fahim has not resigned as Defense Minister; and his militia continues occupy Kabul and parts of the northeast. Moreover, among the 23 candidates for president, several are faction leaders.
11. Barnett R. Rubin, Blood on the Doorstep: The Politics of Preventive Action, (New York: The Century Foundation Press, 2002), pp. 11-12.
12. Nazif M. Shahrani, "War, Factionalism, and the State in Afghanistan," American Anthropologist, Vo. 104, No. 3 (2002), pp. 715-21.
13. Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Ed., The Self-Determination of Peoples: Community, Nation, and State in an Interdependent World, (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2002).
14. USIP, "Lethal Ethnic Riots," Special Report.
15. Ashutosh Varshney's research led to Ethnic Conflict and Civil Life: Hindus and Muslims in India (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001).
16. International Crisis Group (ICG), "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation," ICGAsia Report, No. 32, August 5, 2003, pp. 1-36.
17. Chicago Tribune, "Inside Afghanistan," September 30, 2001, p. 16.
18. Nazif Shahrani, "Ethnic Relations under Closed Frontier Conditions: Northeast Badakhshan," Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers, William O. McCagg, Jr. and Brian D. Silvers (Ed.), (New York: Pergamom Press, 1979), pp. 174-92.
19. ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation," ICG Asia Report No. 32.
20. Actually, the US continues to battle Taliban insurgency in the south and east. Large portions of the country have become inaccessible to aid workers, with the agency Médecins Sans Frontières withdrawing after twenty-four years of service.
21. Afghanistan's new constitution, approved by a constitutional Loya Jirga on January 4, 2004, recognizes ethnic identification. The national anthem will be in Pashto; but the constitution mentions the names of 14 disparate ethnic groups as comprising the Afghan nation. Pashto and Dari, the Afghan version of Persian, will be the official languages of the country. For the first time, six regional languages, Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluchi, Pashai, Nuristani, and Pamiri, will enjoy official status in the regions, where the majority of the population speaks them.
22. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Country Report: November 2004, (London: Economist Intelligence Unit, 2004), pp 3, 7.
23. Associated Press. Afghan President to Announce Cabinet. December 23, 2004. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041223/ ap_on_re_as/afghan_cabinet.
24. Ed Warner, "Success of New Afghan Government Will Depend on Unity, Security," Voice of America (VOA) News, December 10, 2001.
25. Robert Chesel, "Power Vacuum in Kabul," Radio Netherlands, (November 13, 2001).
26. ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation," ICG Asia Report No. 32.
27. ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation."
28. Kate Clark, "Of Aid and Arms," Middle East International, No. 73 1, August 6,2004, p. 24. Still, problems with warlords continue. US Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalizad helped broker a ceasefire in August 2004 to end fighting in western Afghanistan between Amanullah Khan and forces of Herat's governor, Ismail Khan. The conflict appeared an effort by Amanullah Khan to gain supremacy over Pashtun areas prior to the presidential election on October 9.
29. Carlotta Gall, "US Ambassador Helps to Negotiate Cease-Fire in Afghan Fighting," New York Times, August 18, 2004, p. 5.
30. ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashum Alienation."
31. Ali A. Jalali, "Rebuilding Afghanistan's National Army," Parameters XXXII, No. 3, Autumn 2002, pp. 72-86.
32. Northern Afghanistan's powerful warlord General Rashid Dostum resigned from the government to contest the presidential elections against President Hamid Karzai.
33. Afghan Civil Society Forum (ACSF), "Abdul Rashid Dostum Becomes Advisor to President Hamid Karzai in Kabul," Newsletter, May 2003, p. 5. Berne: Swiss Peace.
34. Antonio Giustozzi, Re-building the Afghan Army, (Crisis States Programme, Development Research Center: London School of Economics, 2003).
35. IRINNews, "Afghanistan: Cool Reaction to Major Defence Ministry Reforms," IRRMWEWS.ORG (2003), pp. 1-2. www.irinnews.org/ print.asp?/ReportfD=36790.
36. Some Afghan scholars prefer the term regional commander or local commander or leader (even possibly sub-state leader) to that of warlord.
37. Barnett Rubin, "ICG interview with Barnett Rubin," New York (April 2002). Quoted in ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation."
38. ICG, "Afghanistan: The Problem of Pashtun Alienation."
39. Since replaced as governor by Yusuf Pashtun:
40. Christian Wagner, Ana Devic, Ulrike Joras, Mario Krämer, Conrad Schetter, and Andreas Wimmer, "Prospects and Limits of Ethnic Mobilization," ZEF News No. 10, July 2002, pp. 1-2.
41. Christian Wagner et al., "Prospects and Limits of Ethnic Mobilization," ZEF News.
42. United States Institute of Peace, "Unfinished Business in Afghanistan: Warlordism, Reconstruction, and Ethnic Harmony," Special Report 105, April 2003, pp. 1-13.
43. Jude Howell and Jenny Pearce, Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. 2001), pp. 190-98.
44. Jude Howell and Jenny Pearce, Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration, p. 199.
45. Gabriel Almond and Sydney Verba, Ed., The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1989). First published in 1963.
46. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Afghanistan: NGO Concern Over New Regulatory Framework, Integrated Regional Information Network (May 19, 2003). www.reliefweb.int/w/ Rwb.nsf/0/0ffafa638ca5062e85256cee007.
47. Jude Howell and Jenny Pearce, Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration, p. 121.