ABSTRACT
It is an old cliche that the Pashtun highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan are highly resistant to state authority, and old masters of ‘the art of not being governed’. In Afghanistan itself, Pashtuns, though representing the largest share of the population, are not a majority, whatever they may like to believe. Equally importantly, Afghan-Pashtun national identity itself, while a powerful force, has never been able to claim the undivided loyalty of Pashtuns in a way characteristic of stronger nationalisms. At the heart of the interrelated ineffectiveness and nastiness of the Afghan state has been a lack of revenue. A devastating blow was dealt to the economic base of the region by European seizure and development of the Indian Ocean trade routes from the end of the fifteenth century ce. In extending their version of sharia order, the Taliban built on two old traditions among the Pashtun tribes. The first was practice whereby local religious figures would mediate in tribal disputes.
