Mobilizing Identity in the Pashtun Tribal Belt, Small Wars Journal, 17 March 2010
EXCERPT: "Today, violent conflict in the Pashtun tribal belt in Afghanistan and Pakistan is increasing and a number of experts are attempting to understand the dynamics driving this conflict. An examination of two key identities of the Pashtun people reveals how religious identity is being mobilized by one group for political purposes and ethnic identity is inadvertently being threatened by another group. The resulting vortex of threat and mobilization are the source of this increased violence. This paper analyzes the ethnic and religious identities of the Pashtun people to illustrate how identities are used to influence conflict and it will then offer ways for the US and the international community to adjust their activities to reduce conflict in the Pashtun tribal belt."
Read the full article.
Related articles:
What next in Pakistan's Pashtun belt?, Eurasia Review, 4 March 2010
Related report:
Caught in the crossfire: The Pashtun tribes of southeast Afghanistan [pdf], Lowy Institute for International Policy via Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Policy, October 2009
Related posts:
Tribal areas need justice to consolidate Taliban's defeat, 21 December
2009
Pashtunistan: The real challenge, 7 December 2009
The Talibanisation of Pakistan's western region, 3 December 2009
Tribesmen pawns in "duplicitous" game, 4 November 2009
