From war to peace in Afghanistan

Keywords

State Building, Clientelism, Warlordism, War Economy

Countries

Afghanistan

Objectives

The complex political organization of Afghan society stood always in the way of centralizing state-building processes. Thus for most Afghans the state represented an external entity, even a hostile one.  While state structures were scarcely able to govern rural areas effectively, the urban centres, especially Kabul, developed into oases of state rule in the course of the twentieth century. The resulting opposition between Kabul and the rest of the country determined much of the history of Afghanistan in the twentieth century and also played an important part in the Afghan conflict of 1978/9.
One of the fundamental yet scarcely noticed results of the Afghanistan War that has been raging now for over twenty years is that the embryonic state structures that had been built up during the course of the twentieth century collapsed at all level. Alongside the almost complete physical destruction of the infrastructure, since the time the Mujahidin came to power (1992-1996) the government became the playthings of clientelistic networks. Regional and local representatives of the Afghan state were chosen mainly for their authority over valley communities, tribal groups and client associations. The erosion of the state strengthened the significance of sub-national associations of solidarity, which remained important for daily survival as protective alliances against arbitrary violence and dispossession.
Parallel the importance of regional power holders, which are often subsumed under the negative label of warlords, steadily increased. Since the 1990s myriads of militias are in control of the country, yet often not beyond a village or a valley. Especially since the collapse of the Taliban, the fragmentation of the country into hundreds of petty kingdoms became obvious. The Afghan government today appears as nothing more than a ‘city council’ of Kabul – and that only due to the assistance of ISAF.

Map

Parallel to the emergence of the warlords a war economy, which is build on several pillars (e,g. drugs, smuggle) came into being. Thus one important aspect of this research is the mutual influence of warlordism and war economies. Often enough warlords are on personal union drug barons or traders. However it is important also to take the social and cultural dimension of warlordism into account. One important question is, therefore, what is the ‘social glue” between warlords, militias and local communities. Also the warlords are the main obstacle for security in Afghanistan. Thus one research question of ZEF is how to overcome structures of warlordism to improve security. In this context it is to mention that ZEF  advocates for a broad understanding of security, which not only concentrates on physical security but focuses on human security. In this context ZEF was co-author of a publication on human security in Afghanistan for the Commission of Human Security of the United Nations.
Against the background of state erosion the core research question of this project is how to transform the political system in Afghanistan and how to design a strategy for the reconstruction of the country. Hereby the implications of the lack of a monopoly of power and the rule of warlords remain the main obstacles for the political transformation. Furthermore it is to ask which structures of governance are established on the local level and prepare viable links for processes of state-formation.

Methodology

Team Members

Qualitiative Research

Conrad Schetter

Partner Institutions / Funding Organizations

ZEF

Publications

General Publications on Afghanistan

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2004): Kleine Geschichte Afghanistans. München: Verlag C.H. Beck (Beck'sche Reihe). 157 pp.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2004): Kriegsfürstentum und Bürgerkriegsökonomien in Afghanistan. Arbeitspapiere zur Internationalen Politik und Außenpolitik (AIPA) 3. 50 S.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2004): Die Realität der Gewaltökonomie in Afghanistan und die Konsequenzen für Genderverhältnisse, in: Jörg CALIESS (Hg.), (2004): Geschlechterverhältnisse in der Überwindung von Gewaltkonflikten. Loccum (Loccumer Protokolle 27/03), S. 21-31.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2003): Afghanistan – Gewaltwirtschaft und “Warlords”, in: Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik 10, S. 1233-1236.

SCHETTER, Conrad/Tobias DEBIEL, (2003): Sicherheit statt übereilte Wahlen, in: Die Tageszeitung (taz), 11.08.2003.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2003): Gewaltökonomie und Geschlechterverhältnis, in: Informationsprojekt Naher und Mittlerer Osten 35 (Algerien) (2003), S. 32-35.

WIMMER, Andreas/Conrad SCHETTER, (2003): Putting State-formation First: Some Recommendations for Reconstruction and Peace-Making in Afghanistan, in: Journal for International Development 15, S. 525-539.

AZERBAIJANI-MOGHADDAM, Sippi/Conrad SCHETTER/Susanne SCHMEIDL, (2002): The Transition from Relief to Development from a Human Security Perspective: Afghanistan. Paper submitted to the Commission on Human Security, United Nations. Kabul, Peshawar, Bonn, Paris.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2002): The ‘Bazaar Economy’ of Afghanistan. A Comprehensive Approach, in: NÖLLE-KARIMI, Christine/Conrad SCHETTER/Reinhard SCHLAGINTWEIT (Hg.), (20029: Afghanistan – A Country a without State? Frankfurt a.M.: IKO-Verlag (Schriftenreihe der Mediothek für Afghanistan Bd. 2), S. 109-127.

NÖLLE-KARIMI, Christine/Conrad SCHETTER/Reinhard SCHLAGINTWEIT, (Hg.), (2002): Afghanistan – A Country without a State? Frankfurt a.M.: IKO-Verlag (Schriftenreihe der Mediothek für Afghanistan Bd. 2). 271 pp.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2002): Die Fürsten des Krieges, in: Y. Magazin der Bundeswehr. April, S. 84-86.

WIMMER, Andreas/Conrad SCHETTER, (2002): Staatsbildung zuerst. Empfehlungen zum Wiederaufbau und zur Befriedung Afghanistans, in: E+Z Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit, 43 (2002) 7, S. 212-214.

WIMMER, Andreas/Conrad SCHETTER, (2002): State-Formation First. Recommendations for Reconstruction and Peace-making in Afghanistan (English version). Staatsbildung Zuerst. Empfehlungen zum Wiederaufbau und zur Befriedung Afghanistans (deutsche Version). ZEF Discussion Paper 45.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2002): Hamid Karzais Weg zur Macht, in: Informationsprojekt Naher und Mittlerer Osten 32 (Israel, Palästina) (2002), S. 36-38.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2002): Hamid Karzai. Übergangspräsident für Afghanistan, in: Orient. Zeitschrift des deutschen Orient-Instituts 43 (2002) 1, S. 9-19.

EHLERS, Eckart/Conrad SCHETTER, (2002): America Attacking - oder: The West against the Rest, in: Sabine SIELKE (Hg.):  Der 11. September 2001. Fragen, Folgen, Hintergründe. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang, pp. 183-201.

SCHETTER, Conrad, (2001): Die Taliban – Gegenpol der zivilisierten Welt?, in: Peripherie 84 (2001), S. 97-102.

SCHETTER, Conrad/Almut WIELAND-KARIMI, (Hg.), (1999): Afghanistan in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Frankfurt a.M.: IKO-Verlag (Schriftenreihe der Mediothek für Afghanistan Bd. 1). 176 pp.

Workshops / Conferences

Contact

30 May – 1 June 2003 State Reconstruction and International Engagement in Afghanistan
Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Crisis State Programme of the London School of Economics, ZEF, Bonn

21-24 May 2003  Promoting Security in Afghanistan and the Region
Organized by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self Determination, Princeton, and the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Avendi, Bad Honnef, and ZEF, Bonn

21 January 2003 Afghanistan: From Economy of Violence towards Economic Reconstruction
 Organized by the Center for Development Research (ZEF), ZEF Bonn

Dr. Conrad Schetter