tribe vs. state

[HalloIsBack]

i read in some literature that afghanistan cannot be a state because of the tribe structure of some ethnic group

what do you think? do tribe and state mutually exclusive?

[Khilji]

afghanistan is for over 300 years a country and in peacetime united they following the rules of the state and if not they will be judged by the law of the state.in war times is no country perfect specialy if invaders and neighbour countrys sectret services etc playing their great game to distablice a country.

[Khostai]

When there is stability and peace, tribe structure is weakened, only in war and unstable situation the tribe structure becomes stronger, its not becuase of tribes that Afghanistan is not a stable state.

[Wowra]

That's sort of a multi-faceted question, Hallo. Essentially, we're talking about governance vs. government. What will work for the inter-relations of people in Afghanistan? Governance through Tribe; however, for exterior affairs there must be some form of official statehood. If we think back to King Abdur Rahman, he led the largest consolidation of power in Kabul up to that time, but it was seemingly pointless. That centralization of government was only expressed in domestic affairs while the UK held ownership of Afghanistan's foreign affairs. There's a slight parallel there between Karzai as well, except he doesn't have the clout or capability to express power the way the Iron Amir did.

For internal affairs, State should only bridge the slight gap where Tribe and Islam need additional coverage. If you think of it like a triangle, State would be the smallest side while Tribe and Islam are relatively the same length. The current Karzai administration would like Tribe to be the smallest side, with Islam being mitigated in importance as well. Its a dangerous and unstable design for Afghanistan.

[Badlun]

Tribe is an extended family and family is never an obstacle in the way of statehood. The social structure in Pashtun society is like this
individual-family-khel-tribe-jirga-loya jirga(assembly)

Without a state loya jirga used to have the functions of government(legislatrure, executive and judiciary). Now government is represented by state instead of jirga.

Pashtuns are divided in 4 politically administrative units.

1.Afghanistan where tribal chiefs and Pashtunwali have the power but kabul is also exercising enough power.

2.FATA where still Pashtunwali and Political agents from Islamabad are the power hubs.

3.Settled districts of Paksitan where the state of Pakistan is fully exercising its power while Pashtunwali has its hold on the levels of family and society.

4. Balochistan where almost the same situation is seen as in settled districts of KP.

As wee see Pashtun tribal culture is not at all a hindrance in statecraft. Pashtunwali is more social and cultural not political.

After 1979 yes political Islam or islamism has erroneously got a role where Mullah has replaced a Pashtun tribal chief or government authority. the solution is crushing them if they are Taliban and making Pashtuns aware that their worst enemy is Mullah not state . Mullah is for mosque not for state or society.