ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Behsud District in eastern Afghanistan, where increasing levels of development ran alongside rising levels of violence and fear. A large number of external actors worked in the district, therefore, in this chapter the interactions between district residents, international and national aid workers, UN staff, international and national security forces, government officials, and community leaders, comes sharply into focus. The chapter the examines the fluidity of movement between different positions that individuals in the district adopt, the friction that occurs between different groups of actors in the district, and the strategies that are used to negotiate their competing interests. In this chapter more than any other in the book violence weighs heavily on the lived experience of district residents and interveners.
