uzbekistan tajikistan china

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN

A F G H A N I S T A N

TAJIKISTANUZBEKISTAN

Kabul

Charikar

Baghlan

Jalalabad

Farah

250 mi.

500 km

Harirud

Amu Darya

H I N D U KU S H

Am

u D

arya

Helm

and R

.

Herat

Mazar-i-sharif

Qandahar

Ghazni

Bamiyan

Balkh

REGISTANDESERT

WAKHANCORRIDOR

KHYBER PASS

KOH-I-BABA

SAUDIARABIA

TURKEY

SYRIA

IRAQ IRAN

OMAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

KAZAKHSTAN

RUSSIA

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

CHINA

Map 1. Afghanistan

people and places 19

mixed populations, and hide the crosscutting patterns of intermarriage, bilingualism, and unity through common geography. People of a shared locality (manteqa) may display more solidarity with their immediate neigh-bors of diff erent ethnicities than they do with coethnics from other parts of the country. Whether large or small, the varied ethnic groups residing in Afghani-stan are all products of history. Since the end of the Bronze Age, if not before, new peoples have arrived (mostly from the north and west), bring-ing with them new languages and cultural practices. Th ese new groups partially displaced, but more often amalgamated with, older populations in the major river valleys and urban centers. At the same time, Afghani-stan’s rugged terrain provided refuge for older groups to maintain their

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN


Kabul

Kunduz

Herat

Qandahar

UNINHABITED

T A I M A N I

F I R O Z K O H I

DU

RR

AN

I

GH

I LZ

AI

UNINHABITED

ArabBaluchChahar Aimaq (Firozkohi, Jamshidi, Taimani, Taimuri)HazaraKirghizPamirisNuristaniPashtunTajikTurkmenUzbek

Map 2. Distribution of ethnic groups


duce crops such as mulberries, stone fruit, and nuts. Livestock, mostly cows and goats, are an important component of the economy, but moun-tain villagers must limit their numbers to those that can be stall fed through the winter. Th e livestock is moved to available pasture in the summer. To facilitate this, people establish special summer villages (ailoq) or, particu-larly in central Afghanistan, make use of portable huts that provide sea-sonal dwellings.

0 5 10 20 4 0 80

Fig. 1. A high- prestige qala, measured in meters. Source: Albert Szabo and Th omas Barfi eld, Afghanistan: An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture. Austin, 1991: University of Texas Press, p. 188.

38 chapter one

pastoral nomads

Raising livestock is the primary occupation of nomadic pastoralists in Afghanistan, who by some estimates number more than a million people.24 Th ese nomads take advantage of seasonally changing pastures, spending the winter in the lowlands and the summers in the mountains. Th ey raise sheep and use camels to transport their baggage. Th e map of nomadic

0 5 10 20 4 0 80

Fig. 2. A farm village qala, measured in meters. Source: Albert Szabo and Th omas Barfi eld, An Atlas of Indigenous Domestic Architecture. Austin, 1991: University of Texas Press, p. 164.


migrations shows that nomads move toward the highlands of the Hindu Kush in the center of the country or the northeast toward the highland pastures of Badakhshan. Most of the nomads involved in these long- range migrations are Pashtuns, who use black goat- hair tents. Nomads from the Uzbek, Turkmen, or Kirghiz groups normally move their animals only short distances, often moving from winter pastures in the valleys to spring and summer pastures on the steppes and nearby foothills. Th ey live in yurts. A few groups also engage in the caravan trade. All are dependent on the sale of animals, cheese, clarifi ed butter, dried yogurt, wool, or skins to urban markets for cash, with which they then buy wheat. Wheat bread is the main food even of nomads in Afghanistan.

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN


Kabul

Kunduz

Charikar

Herat

Qandahar

UNINHABITED

Approximate limit of winter pasture landDirection of spring migration routesGrazing area of western Pashtuns (mainly Durranis)Grazing area of eastern Pashtuns (mainly Ghilzais)Combined grazing are of western and eastern PashtunsBaluch winter quarters (other Baluch mingled with Pashtuns in the north)

Map 3. Nomadic migration routes


tained Afghanistan’s distinct regions: Herat in the west, Qandahar in the south, Mazar- i- sharif (Balkh) in the north, and the Kabul- Peshawar axis in the east. Th ese regions (and Afghanistan itself ) are part of the larger cultural- historical unit of Turko- Persia that encompasses the entire Iranian plateau.

Mountains and Rivers

When the Indian tectonic plate slammed into Asia millions of years ago, it raised up an arc of mountain ranges that are among the highest in the world. Afghanistan lies within the most eastern sector of this arc. Th e main

CHINA

IRAN PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN


Kabul

Charikar

Baghlan

Faizabad

KunduzTaloqan

Jalalabad

KhyberPass

BolanPass

Farah

Shindand

Herat

Islam Qala Qala-i-nao

Maimana

Shibarghan Mazar-i-sharif

Aqcha

Dilaram

Zaranj

Lashkar GahGirishk Qandahar

Peshawar

SOUTHAFGHANISTAN

CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN

EASTAFGHANISTAN

NURISTAN

WAKHAN

BA

DA

KH

SHA

N

WESTAFGHANISTAN

NORTHWEST AFGHANISTAN

NORTH AFGHANISTAN

Spin Boldak

Qalat

Ghazni

MaidanPanjab

Bamiyan

Doshi

Pul-i-khumri

Darwaz

Tashkurghan

Gardez

Harirud

Farahrud

Murghab R. Bal

khab

R.

Samangan

Amu Darya

Helman

d

R.

Helmand R.

Argha

nda

Indu

s Riv

er

bR

.

Tarnak R.

Quetta

Map 4. Afghanistan’s regions

conquering and ruling 71

were fortunate. Th ey worked within a political system where the number of contestants for power was limited and they were only rarely challenged by the people they ruled.

Premodern Patterns of Establishing Legitimacy in Central Asia and Beyond

States have historically used wars of conquest as the primary means to incor-porate contested territory into their polities. For premodern states, wars of conquest were largely competitions among rival elites to control a subject population because the state as an institution was viewed as the property

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN


KabulKabulKabulHerat

Qandahar

Irrigated cultivationMixed dry farming and grazingForestSparse vegetation

Baghlan

Kunduz

Jalalabad

Farah

Mazar-i-sharif

Lashkar Gah

Girishk

Doshi

Pul-i-khumri

Khanabad

Map 5. Land use in Afghanistan

156 chapter three

Map 6. Afghan state with modern boundary highlighting Durand line with Pakistan

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

BaluchistanProvince

Nor th-WestFrontierProvince

INDIA

INDIA

TURKMENISTAN

A F G H A N I S T A N


Kabul

Islamabad

Charikar

Baghlan

Jalalabad

Farah

Herat

Mazar-i-sharif

Qandahar

Ghazni

The Durrand LineFederally AdministeredTribal Areas

Bamiyan

Balkh

Quetta

Peshawar

Kabul R.

Indu

s Rive

r

Indus R.

A r a b i a n S e a

Map 7. Contemporary Afghanistan

CHINA

IRAN

PAKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN


Cities and townspopulationMore than 500,000150,000 to 500,000100,000 to 150,00050,000 to 100,000All others

Paved roadsMajor unpaved roadsRivers

KabulCharikar

Baghlan

Faizabad

Kunduz

Taloqan

Jalalabad

Farah

Harirud

Farahrud

Murghab R. Bal

khab

R.

Samangan

Amu Darya

H I N D U KU S H

Am

u D

arya

Helman

d R.

Helmand R.

Argha

ndab R.

Tarnak R.

Shindand

Herat

Islam Qala Qala-i-nao

Maimana

Shibarghan Mazar-i-sharif

Aqcha

Dilaram

Zaranj

Lashkar GahGirishk Qandahar

Spin Boldak

Qalat

S E I S T A N

H A Z A R A J A T

SHIWA

PAMIR

PAK

TYA

Ghazni

MaidanPanjab

Bamiyan

Darwaz

Tashkurghan

Gardez

Kunduz R.

Logar R.Kabul R.

Konar R.

Kokcha R.

NU

RIS

TAN

uzbekistan tajikistan china

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