Militia Order in Afghanistan: Guardians or Gangsters?

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This book offers a new insight into when and why paramilitary groups in Afghanistan engage in protective or predatory behavior against the civilians they purportedly defend.

In Afghanistan’s counterinsurgency environment, America leaned on militias to provide order and stabilize communities cut off from weak central government institutions. However, the lucrative market of protection challenged militia loyalty, as many engaged in banditry, vendettas, and predation. This book examines the varying militia experiments in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 and their outcomes through three sub-national case studies. It argues that successful militia experiments in Afghanistan involved inclusion of local orders, where communities had well-established social structures and accountability mechanisms in place, and state patrons relied upon those structures as a restraint against militia behavior. Complementary management ensured patrons leaned on communities for strong accountability systems. But such environments were far from the norm. When patrons ignored community controls, militias preyed on civilians as they monopolized the market of protection. This book adds to the rich literature on the U.S. experience in Afghanistan, but differs by focusing on the interplay between states, communities, and militias.

This book will be of much interest to students of military and strategic studies, Asian politics, security studies and International Relations.

Author(s): Matthew P. Dearing
Series: Contemporary Security Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021

Language: English
Pages: 180
City: London

Cover
Endorsements
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Acronyms
1. Introduction
Predators or protectors?
Militia as statebuilder
Case studies and methods
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
2. Embedded militias in Afghanistan
Great games and competitive patronage
Soviet counterinsurgency
Soldiers of the revolution
American counterinsurgency
Paramilitary policing and village stability
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
3. Gangland in northern Afghanistan
State building and the new market of protection
Material incentives
Organizational controls
Militias run Amok
Patronage, politicking, and community erosion
Ideational narratives
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
4. Vigilante uprisings in Ghazni
Rise of the state and resistance in Ghazni
Anti-Taliban uprising
Organizational controls
Material incentives
Ideational narratives
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
5. Guardians of Paktika
Turning the soil in Marzak
Material incentives
Organizational controls: entry points and spoilers
Ideational narratives—heroes and scripts
Transition
Notes
Bibliography
6. From guardians to territorial force
Afghan national army—territorial force
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index