To help us understand the Afghan insurgency and the major players I am starting this thread. I will be putting summerised analysis from study material and shall give references for the benefit of the reader.
To most readers with would come as a surprise that Mullah Omar and the Taliban were at loggerheads with Al Qaida.....
It would be pertinent to understand that since hundreds of years the chief rebellious region of Afghanistan is the Khost - Paktia - Paktika provinces and in Pakistan - North & South Waziristan. This region is mountainous and agriculturally unproductive. See the map below with the legends to understand the region in question.
"Pushtunistan" or the Pushtun "nation"- is depicted in the pink coloured region that straddles the Durand line.
Pushtuns are made up of the Nang and the Qalang. The Nang Pashtuns inhabit the mountainous fringe where the land is poor and life is harsh, and codes of conduct are bound by traditional codes of honour. Qalang Pashtuns, inhabit the fertile lands of the valleys and produce large marketable surplus. Their social interaction is governed by patron-client relations.
The Haqqanis follow a long line of nang Pashtuns or highland Pashtuns who have been fiercely independent and have maintained their autonomy. Neither Pakistan or Afghanistan have been successful in integrating the highland Pushtuns within their respective systems. The people in these "autonomous" regions escape state subordination of taxation, state laws etc. These highland Pashtuns form the Karlanri Pashtun confedracy, that has troubled most invading armies. The other Afghan confedracies are - Durrani (a.k.a Abdali), Ghilzai and Ghurghusht.
In the region there exists a broadbased clerical network, of clerics and their deciples (through the madarsas), amongst the highland Pashtuns. The reader should also note that the rebellions in these regions have been clerical led and not by tribal leadership. A kind of supratribal solidarity. The madarsas afford a ready manpower base for the militias.
Whenever, state authority has tried to exercise their writ on these regions, the highland Pashtun clerics have led revolts. The reasons could be as varied as the Afghan state implementing modernisation process on the lines of Turkey or the British getting back a Hindu girl from her "kidnappers" (the famous Fakir of Ipi led revolt).
Reference: The Fountainhead of Jihad - The Haqqani Nexus, 1973 - 2012
To most readers with would come as a surprise that Mullah Omar and the Taliban were at loggerheads with Al Qaida.....
It would be pertinent to understand that since hundreds of years the chief rebellious region of Afghanistan is the Khost - Paktia - Paktika provinces and in Pakistan - North & South Waziristan. This region is mountainous and agriculturally unproductive. See the map below with the legends to understand the region in question.
"Pushtunistan" or the Pushtun "nation"- is depicted in the pink coloured region that straddles the Durand line.
Pushtuns are made up of the Nang and the Qalang. The Nang Pashtuns inhabit the mountainous fringe where the land is poor and life is harsh, and codes of conduct are bound by traditional codes of honour. Qalang Pashtuns, inhabit the fertile lands of the valleys and produce large marketable surplus. Their social interaction is governed by patron-client relations.
The Haqqanis follow a long line of nang Pashtuns or highland Pashtuns who have been fiercely independent and have maintained their autonomy. Neither Pakistan or Afghanistan have been successful in integrating the highland Pushtuns within their respective systems. The people in these "autonomous" regions escape state subordination of taxation, state laws etc. These highland Pashtuns form the Karlanri Pashtun confedracy, that has troubled most invading armies. The other Afghan confedracies are - Durrani (a.k.a Abdali), Ghilzai and Ghurghusht.
In the region there exists a broadbased clerical network, of clerics and their deciples (through the madarsas), amongst the highland Pashtuns. The reader should also note that the rebellions in these regions have been clerical led and not by tribal leadership. A kind of supratribal solidarity. The madarsas afford a ready manpower base for the militias.
Whenever, state authority has tried to exercise their writ on these regions, the highland Pashtun clerics have led revolts. The reasons could be as varied as the Afghan state implementing modernisation process on the lines of Turkey or the British getting back a Hindu girl from her "kidnappers" (the famous Fakir of Ipi led revolt).
Reference: The Fountainhead of Jihad - The Haqqani Nexus, 1973 - 2012
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