ABSTRACT
Afghanistan is located at the crossroads of the Middle East, South Asia and Central Asia. Throughout history armies have travelled through the region and left an impact on the development of the Afghan state. As a result of the movement of peoples through the area, a variety of tribes and clans settled in Afghanistan. Afghan history has been marked by constant strife and continuous ethnic tensions between these people. As discussed in the previous chapter, this internal conflict constrained the development of the Afghan state and prevented the establishment of a national identity. Instead, the ethnic groups of Afghanistan have often shown greater allegiance to their cross-border identity groups, than to any conception of an ethno-national Afghan patriotism or nationalism. I
At the same time, however, external conflict has also played a significant role in the evolution of the Afghan state. While on one level, foreign invasion has provided one of the few motivations for multi-ethnic cooperation since in Afghanistan it is very common for feuding tribes to band together against external invaders. However, the repeated invasions and raids and the redistribution of territory that was occasioned by foreign powers created lengthy periods of instability and often fertilized internal conflict by providing the means or the rationale to undermine the central government in Kabul. Hence, the history of Afghanistan is one that is marked by the nexus between internal and external conflict.
