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POST-CONFLICT AFGHANISTAN: a POST-COLONIAL CRITIQUE by Maliha Chishti a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with the Requirements

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POST-CONFLICT AFGHANISTAN: a POST-COLONIAL CRITIQUE by Maliha Chishti a Thesis Submitted in Conformity with the Requirements POST-CONFLICT AFGHANISTAN: A POST-COLONIAL CRITIQUE by Maliha Chishti A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Maliha Chishti 2014 Post-Conflict Afghanistan: A Post-Colonial Critique Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Maliha Chishti Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education University of Toronto Abstract This dissertation responds to a growing body of literature that points to a crisis in post-conflict aid interventions. These complex, costly and risky international undertakings have not only failed to produce desirable results, but have left efforts to effectively and successfully restructure post-war states and societies an elusive goal. Focusing on Afghanistan, I offer a postcolonial analysis to unmask and interrogate the underlying knowledge base and institutionalized sets of power relations that govern post-conflict reconstruction and statebuilding interventions in the country. Therefore, this study is preoccupied with not only what we in the west are doing wrong in Afghanistan, but why we are there, how we perceive ourselves and Afghans as well as the way we work and the kinds of relations that are fostered. This study argues that one can detect the continuity of a colonial worldview in modern statebuilding practices in Afghanistan. As such, interventions primarily rekindle and reassert the west’s own sense of meaning and purpose in the country, ensuring that westerners, and not necessarily Afghans, are the primary beneficiaries of post- conflict interventions and that westerners are never made to feel ‘out of place’ in Afghanistan. Interventions, therefore, construct an outwardly oriented state, responsive to the desires and needs of the international community, rather than being inwardly oriented and responsive to the needs, expectations and lived realities of the majority of Afghans. To substantiate this claim, this dissertation focuses on the concepts of colonial ambivalence and mimicry as well as terra nullius in order to unmask some of the hidden, obscure and implicit assumptions, ideas, values and relations that underpin externally facilitated interventions in Afghanistan. ii Acknowledgements First and foremost, I dedicate this dissertation to my mother, Meraj Chishti, my father Syed Chishti and especially to my sister Maha Chishti, whose love, encouragement and unwavering support cannot be measured but is tucked under every word, of every page of this study. This thesis, quite frankly, could not have been written without their loving support and I share this accomplishment with them. My sister Maha deserves special recognition for not only taking care of my eldest daughter Ayla while I was writing and finalizing the dissertation, but for her unconditional and unflinching love, encouragement and strong confidence in my work. I love you vien! I am also deeply indebted to my husband, Yousef Casewit, who has brought so much love and joy to my life. I am profoundly grateful to him for not only taking care of our daughters while I was writing, but for gently guiding this enormous project to its completion and for making the sacrifices so early in our marriage to help me finish. I would have, no doubt, been entangled in protracted ‘static’ states of writing if it had not been for the close reading and keen insights generously offered by my brother in law Arshad Patel. Many of the ideas presented in this study were tried and tested through long conversations between Arshad and I, and I am so grateful for his love and support throughout this process. My dear friends Jasmin Zine, Lauren Boni and Itrath Syed were invaluable supporters of this thesis. Their friendship and intellectual companionship over the years kept me motivated, helped me develop intellectually and guided me through some difficult times. I also must thank a few pleasant companions, namely my lovely nieces Noora and Zayaan and my adorable nephews Iydin and Ibrahim, who kept me smiling and who always gave unconditional love to their very distracted ‘khala’. Finally, I am immensely grateful to my thesis supervisor, mentor and friend, Professor Shahrzad Mojab. Her unflinching support and confidence in my work kept this study afloat and I most certainly would not have even pursued a doctorate degree if it wasn’t for her keen persuasion and encouragement. I would also like to thank my thesis committee, Professors Njoki Wane, Paul Kingston and Sarfaroz Niyozov for their excellent comments, critiques and suggestions of my dissertation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CHAPTER ONE: An Overview of Post-Conflict Interventions ii iii 1 Introduction 1 Part 1. Wars and the Politics of Failed States 9 1.1 Protracted Conflicts and Wars Merging with Peace 9 1.2 “Failed” States, Globalization and Global Terrorism 14 Part 2. Post-Conflict Reconstruction 20 2.1 Foundational Pillars of Post-Conflict Aid 20 2.2 Post-Conflict Afghanistan: Overview 22 2.3 Liberal Internationalism 28 2.4 The Impact of Political and Economic Liberalization 31 2.5 Power, Politics and the Crisis of Liberal Peacebuilding 34 2.6 Modern Liberal Interventions and Comparisons to Imperialism and 38 Colonialism 2.7 Post-Colonial Analysis and Peacebuilding 42 Part 3: Post-Colonial Discursive Framework 44 3.1 Why Post-Conflict Afghanistan? Why Post-Colonial? 44 3.2 Locating the Postcolonial 46 3.3 Postcolonial Thought, International Aid Interventions and the Category of 52 Third World 3.4 Limitations and Critiques against the Postcolonial 55 3.5 Terminologies 60 The West 60 Colonial/Colonialism/Imperialism 61 PartTerra 4. The Nullius Argument and Chapter Outline 64 CHAPTER4.1 Colonial TWO: Ambivalence The Elusive, and Mimicry Distant and Impenetrable Land – 65 Resistance4.2 and Resilience in Afghanistan’s Political History 67 71 Introduction 71 Part 1. Distance, Strangeness and the InviolabilityTerra Incognita of Afghanistan 73 1.1 Colonial Desire: In Search of the Long Lost Tribe 73 1.2 Implications of Afghanistan’s Status as 77 Part 2. The Early Twentieth Century ‘Anti-Imperialist’ Afghan Rulers, 82 Modernizers and Reformers 2.1 Afghanistan as the “hermit kingdom” 82 2.2 Early Reformers: The Emergence of the modern state and Afghan Political 84 Authority (1880-1933) 2.3 Reign of King Zahir Shah (1933-1973): Modernization and the Vacillating 88 Influence of the U.S and the Soviet Union 2.4 The Afghan Communist Regime (1978-1992) Under Soviet Influence 95 Part 3. Western Distance and the ‘Belligerent’ Taliban Years 106 3.1 The Rise of the Talibs 106 Conclusion 115 CHAPTER THREE: The Post-Conflict ‘Mimic-State’ of Afghanistan: From Distance to International Proximity 117 Introduction 117 Part 1. The Making of a Mimic State 11 1.1 Mimicry and Imitating European Civility 119 1.2 Colonial Ambivalence and the Mimic State of Afghanistan 125 Part 2. Western Ambivalence towards Afghanistan: To Build the State and to 129 Tear it Down 2.1 Building the State and Celebrating the Liberal Democratic Makeover of 129 Post-Conflict Afghanistan 2.2 The Parallel ‘Donor State of Afghanistan’ 134 2.3 Warlord Democratization? 139 2.4 A State of Warlords and Regional Strongmen 144 Part 3. What is the Purpose of a Mimic State? 151 3.1 Women’s Rights Agenda 153 CHAPTER3.2 Carving FOUR: a Liberal State Democratic Fragility Island and the in theNew Muslim Terra WorldNullius: Confronting 158 theConclusion: Politically Slippages ‘Vacant’ between State of MimicryAfghanistan and Mockery 164 172 Terra Nullius Introduction 172 Part 1. and the Idea of ‘Empty’ Lands 175 1.1 The Doctrine of TerraNew NulliusTerra Nullius 175 1.2 Legitimate versus Illegitimate Political Structures 178 Part 2. Exploring the 182 2.1 State Failure and Afghanistan’s Vacant Governance 182 2.2 Failed States and International Terrorism 190 2.3 The Problem of Sovereignty 196 Part 3: Critical and Alternative Perspectives 201 3.1 The Historical Roots and Relevance of the Modern Liberal State 201 3.2 State Failure and Western Discursive Authority 205 CHAPTER3.3 Failed States FIVE: andState Failed Fragility Citizens? and the New Terra Nullius: Confronting 209 theConclusion: Economically The Desired ‘Idle’ FailedState ofState? Afghanistan 211 218 New Terra Nullius Introduction 218 Part 1. The Economic Contours of the : Constructing the 223 Economically ‘Idle’ State 1.1 Failed States as Economically ‘Idle’ and Inefficient 223 1.2 Post-Conflict Afghanistan and the Markings of an Economically ‘Empty’ 227 State Part 2. Afghanistan and the Resource Curse Thesis 233 2.1 The Discovery of Mineral Wealth and the ‘Cursed’ State of Afghanistan 233 2.2 Resource Curse: Weak Governance and Corruption 239 2.3 Resource Curse: Wars and Political Instability 245 2.4 The Resource Curse Thesis and the ‘Virtues’ of Private Investment 251 2.5 The Counter ‘Corporate-Resource Curse Thesis’ 255 New Terra Nullius Part 3. The : Afghanistan’s Business Laws and the Formation 260 of Foreign ‘Corporate Territories’ in Afghanistan 3.1 The New Laws and the Establishment of a Foreign Corporate Monopoly 260 3.2 Investment Laws and the Implications for Afghanistan’s Domestic 263 Economy 3.3 The Possibilities for a People-Focused Approach to Support Afghan 267 CHAPTEREconomic Sov SIX:ereignty Towards Decolonizing Statebuilding Conclusion: Colonial Empires and Robbing Natural Wealth 275 279 Part 1. Statebuilding in Afghanistan: A Foreign Pre-‘Occupation’ 283 1.1 Carving the Familiar and Expunging the Unfamiliar 283 1.2 Cows that Drink Their Own Milk: The Distance and Disillusionment of Aid 292 Part 2. Decolonizing State-building: Moving Forward or Standing Still? 297 BIBLIOGRAPHY2.1 Confronting Colonial Mistruths and Disavowals 297 2.2 Reciprocity and Transformation 302 308 CHAPTER ONE An Overview of Post-Conflict Interventions Introduction For over a decade, the international community has invested billions of dollars to assist war-ravaged societies around the world.
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