Ali Ahmad Jalali

“ Yet, the leaders of the various Qawm have resolved feuds andheld the land together. Village elders can put feuds on hold for adecade or longer and then let them resume once the agreed-on time hasexpired and the matter is still unresolved. Afghanistan's ancient rootsand strong ties of kinship provide an anchor against progress, but alsothe means to cope when central authority has collapsed. Historically,the collapse of the central government of Afghanistan or the destruc-tion of its standing armies has never resulted in the defeat of thenation by an invader. ”

“ But Afghanistan was in full revolt, thedispirited Afghan army was unable to cope, and the specter of defeatfollowing a Soviet withdrawal haunted the. Politburo. Invasion andoverthrow of the government proved much easier than fighting thehundreds of ubiquitous guerrilla groups. The Soviet Army wastrained for large-scale, rapid-tempo operations. They were nottrained for the platoon leaders' war of finding and closing with small,indigenous forces which would only stand and fight when the terrainand circumstances were to their advantage. ”

“ Such identity places fargreater importance on kinship and extended family than ideology.
Afghanistan stands at a geographic crossroads that has seen thepassage of many warring peoples. Each of these has left their imprinton the ancient land and involved the people of Afghanistan in conflictOften this conflict got in the way of economic development. What hasdeveloped is a country composed of somewhat autonomous "villagestates" spread across the entire country.1 Afghans identify themselvesby Qawm—the basic subnational identity based on kinship, residenceand sometimes occupation. ”

“ Afghanistan lay directlyin this contested area between two empires. Russia described hermotives in the Great Game as simply to abolish the slave trade and toestablish order and control along her southern border. The British,however, viewing Russian absorption of the lands of the Caucasus,Georgia, Khirgiz, Turkmens, Khiva and Bukhara, claimed to feelthreatened by the presence of a large, expanding empire near Indiaand ascribed different Russian motives. The British stated thatRussian motives were to weaken British power and to gain access to awarm-water port. ”

“ The country has been historicallyknown for its remarkable Islamic and ethnic tolerence. However trib-al rivalries and blood feuds, ambitions of local chieftains, and tribaldefiance of pervasive interference by the central government have keptthe different parts of the land at war at different times. In such casesthe kinship-based identity has been the major means of the communi-ty's political and military mobilization. ”

“ About 99% of Afghanistan's over 17 million popula-tion are Muslim, of which 85% are followers of the Sunni sect whilethe rest are Shia. About 85% of Afghans live in rural communities ina land dominated by mountains and deserts. Modern travel isprimarily restricted to a highway ring connecting the various cities.There is no railroad network. Afghanistan has mostly been a loose collection of tribes and nation-alities over which central governments had varying degrees of influ-ence and control at different times. ”

“ This Soviet effort denied rural support to theMujahideen, since the villagers had left and most of the food now had to be carried along with weapons and ammunition and materials ofwar. The Mujahideen responded by establishing logistics bases insideAfghanistan. The Soviet fight from 1985 to withdrawal was to findand destroy these bases.
Terrain, as any infantryman knows, is the ultimate shaper of thebattlefield. Afghanistan's terrain is varied and challenging. It isdominated by towering mountains and forbidding desert. ”