ABSTRACT
After setting the local scene in terms of the ethnic composition of and the international presence in the three provinces, this chapter focuses on security during the post-9/11 period, particularly on the role of commanders and their current political positions. Commanders occupy prominent provincial and national positions, even though some (such as Amir Khan Baghlani) are still forcibly retaining combatants. The chapter begins with a brief review of the local conflict history. This chapter particularly highlights the shifting affiliations between commanders, communities and political-military parties, demonstrating how broad ethnic categories possess limited to no explanatory value in describing the nature of militias in northeast Afghanistan. Depending on extra-local alliances and the proximity of threat, armed groups can transform over time from ethnic heterogeneity to homogeneity and vice versa. The chapter concludes with an examination of the prominent combatant motives in the northeast region of the country, noting the high occurrence of forced conscription and search for protection, as well as the relative absence of elder authority in the mobilization process.
