Non-Muslim Minorities in the Modern Afghanistan’s Economy

Abstract

The territory of what will become modern Afghanistan has for centuries been the center of a vast, economically interconnected geographical area. This area includes, besides Afghanistan, the northern regions of India, Persia and the Uzbek khanates of Central Asia. It represented a market for economic trade in which valuable products from India found buyers in the courts and bazaars of neighboring territories. Mainly, two components of the Afghan society made this system work: Pashtun nomads and non-Muslim minorities. The first ones carried out the logistical work that allowed the goods to reach the various bazaars of the region where they are sold. The second ones (non-Muslim minorities) on the other hand, had many functions: intermediaries, bankers and traders. In this paper I will present the socio-economic context of modern Afghanistan, in which non-Muslim minorities have played a key role in allowing the country to remain connected to the trans-regional trade network that was part of northern India. The aim of my paper is to present the history of non-Muslim minorities in Afghanistan through a description of their socio-economic position and to highlight their fundamental role in the economy of the Afghanistan kingdom. In particular, I will try to frame their role in the trans-national and more general context of global trade that affects not only the territories already mentioned but also the Ottoman Empire and the Mediterranean sea.