The Tajikistani-Afghan Border in Gorno-Badakhshan: Resources of a War-Torn Neighborhood

Abstract

ABSTRACT How can a country at peace benefit from bordering a war-torn country? Using the hypothesis of borders as resources developed by Feyissa and Hoehne (State Borders & Borderlands as Resources: An Analytical Framework. In Borders and Borderlands as Resources in the Horn of Africa, eds. Dereje Feyissa, and Markus Virgil Hoehne, 1–26. Woodbridge: James Currey), I explore the opportunities created by the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan in the Badakhshan region, which is covered by the Pamirs mountains. This paper explores the contradiction that the border is conventionally seen as a danger, yet it is used to enhance cooperation between the two countries on the ground. Without diminishing the challenges involved, I underline the conditions under which the border generates economic, social and identity capital, and becomes a micro-level resource. This positive characterization of the border area as a space of opportunity rather than a limit is informed by original ethnographic insights coupled with existing social science research. With this analysis, I aim to contribute theoretically to the way in which so-called sensitive borders are perceived.