ABSTRACT
West Afghanistan is a historical and cultural unit with Herat as its metropolis. Other important centres of trade, crafts and State administration are Shindand and Farah. Surrounded by large oases, the towns are also agricultural centres. The Durrani Pashtuns of West Afghanistan are subdivided socially into a number of clans or tribes with an intricate pattern of subtribal ramifications, but this system does not correspond to any territorial order in the steppes. The basis of Afghan pastoral economy is breeding fat-tailed sheep and goats. Camels are kept for transport. A pasture area is the range in which a holder of pasture rights may graze his animals freely. Pasture areas have visible and named centres but no defined boundaries and may overlap each other. Centres of pasture areas are those fixed points to which the animals of the occupants have to return regularly.
