When Ethnicity and Religion Meet: Kinship Ties and Cross-Border Dynamics in the Afghan-Pakistani Conflict Zone

Abstract

This article offers a framework for understanding civil strife, synthesizing subnational and transnational dimensions of kinship ties. While existing research generally distinguishes between intrastate and interstate factors of civil war, this study posits that it is the combination of linked ethnic and religious identity traits of groups within the state, and the existence of cross-border affinity ties, that serve as a feeding mechanism of civil strife. Such a synthesized viewpoint is most applicable in the case of the Pashtuns who live on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border. Loosening the solid Pashtun affiliations and controlling border politics necessitate a nation-building process to “domesticate” the Pashtuns and integrate them into state politics, so that their tribal and national loyalties will correspond.