TRANSFORMING A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE INTO A CULTURE OF PEACE: PASHTUNWALI AS THE BASIS FOR PEACE AND STABILITY IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN By Avideh Kobra Mayville Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts In International Peace and Conflict Resolution Chair: l . /) l /J.,ru£'2 C-1.) l9·'6 C)cJYY'Y..---v- Dean of the School of International Service April 7, 2011 Date 2011 American University Washington, D.C. 20016 AMERICAN l.JNNERSITY UafWn' C( tl~ UMI Number: 1504744 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI ___.,Dissertation Publishing--.._ UMI 1504744 Copyright 2011 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Pro uesr ---- ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ©COPYRIGHT by Avideh Kobra Mayville 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Transforming a Culture of Violence into a Culture of Peace: Pashtunwali as the Basis for Peace and Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan BY Avideh Kobra Mayville ABSTRACT The Pashtun population that straddles the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan has endured a history of conflict that continues to this day and has affected politics and governance in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Amid complex tribal relations, the Pashtuns abide by a very strict cultural code of Pashtunwali that espouses underlying themes of independence, egalitarianism and honor- themes which are apparent in both Pashtun and rival ethnic tribe's methods of dispute resolution- and that promotes the respect of individual and tribal autonomy. Harnessing the aforementioned themes by promoting respect through positive interactions through focusing on commonalities in dispute resolution may aid the establishment of a culture of peace to combat the cycles of violence in Pashtun conflicts. 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .................................................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 lntroduction ............................................................................ 1 Perceptions of Legitimacy ................................................................ 9 CHAPTER 2 Pashtunwali: The Way of the Pashtuns ............................... 14 Pashtun Tribal Relations and Pashtunwali .................................... 20 Dispute Resolution Mechanisms .................................................... 26 External Conflicts ........................................................................... 33 Pashtunwali, Islam and Non-Violence: The Pashtun Peace Movement ...................................................................................... 35 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 3 Islam and Pashtunwali: Competing Influences? ................. .41 Taliban Ideology and Rule ............................................................ .44 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 51 CHAPTER 4 Barriers to Sustainable Conflict Management ..................... 54 Establishing the Durand Line ......................................................... 55 Post Durand Line ........................................................................... 61 Pakistan and the Rise of Communism ........................................... 62 Post Soviet Withdrawal .................................................................. 67 111 Post 9/11 ....................................................................................... 69 The Relationship between Political Dynamics in Pakistan and the Pashtun conflicts in AfPak: Situation Pre and Post-9111 ... ............. 71 Pashtun Conflicts and Pakistan's Political Rivalries, the Military and the lSI ............................................................................................ 74 Political Instability, Legitimacy and Authority as Barriers to Sustainable Conflict Management in Pashtun conflicts ................. 81 CHAPTER 5 Predictions and Suggestions for the Future ........................ 83 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 92 IV LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Taliban Senior Leader Tribal Affiliations ................................................... 21 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1. Location of Major Pashtun Tribal Groups ................................................. 16 2. Pashtun Tribal Structure ........................................................................... 17 3. Pashtun Tribal Organization ..................................................................... 18 4. Afghanistan Pre-Durand Line (1849) ........................................................ 57 5. Ethnic Map of Afghanistan and Pakistan .................................................. 58 6. India Before Partitioning of Pakistan (1940) ............................................. 63 7. Ethnic Composition of the Afghan National Police (ANP) ..................... 70 Vl CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION There are many different sources of and contributing factors to the current conflict in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is located in very rugged mountainous terrain, which presents a formidable physical obstacle to those who fight widely dispersed insurgents. Hamid Karzai's government is struggling to build capacity so it can establish legitimacy throughout the country, which is further confounded by the bustling opium production, a contributing factor to fuel the present conflict. Furthermore, the Taliban's ability to easily transit the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan has challenged coalition forces ability to contain the conflict. As a neighbor to Afghanistan, political factions have continuously vied for control over Pakistan's 60 years of existence in a game of politics that is rooted in ideological and ethnic divisions. At the center of these divisions are the Pashtuns, whose population straddles the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This study analyzes aspects of the current conflict in Afghanistan involving the Pashtuns and suggests a framework for enduring dispute resolution mechanisms by focusing on specific elements of Pashtunwali, the Pashtun's social "code." It is argued that this approach can transform a culture of violence into a culture of peace for the promotion of non-violent stability in the frontier region on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan (AfPak). I focus on the 2 following aspects in this study to provide an assessment of the current conflict and to make recommendations about the mechanisms for better conflict management employing indigenous methods. Analysis focuses on: 1. Pashtunwali as a code of social conduct and mechanism for dispute resolution 2. The role of Islam in recent Pashtun conflicts and movements 3. The role of tribal rivalries 4. The effect of Afghanistan's and Pakistan's politics on the Pashtun population The Pashtuns are a group of people that have lived on the border of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan since before the birth of Christ. They are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan. In spite of the Durand Line border demarcation that split Pashtun land in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a large portion of this border remains uncharted and relatively autonomous with regard to the Afghan and Pakistan central governments (Johnson and Mason 2008: 44). Additionally, the terrain of the border region between the two countries is so rough and rugged that geologists have qualified it as the only place on Earth that mostly closely resembles Mars (Ibid). Significantly, AI-Qaeda, the Taliban, and many other fundamentalist Islamic insurgent groups have found a safe haven among the Pashtuns, in part due to their cultural code of Pashtunwali, a code that values honor, revenge, and hospitality. Particularly disconcerting to those in search of Osama bin Laden is 3 the Pashtunwali tenet of Nanawatey, which requires Pashtuns to grant asylum to fugitives (Khan 1999, 34). This tenet obligates the Pashtun to protect any fugitive in the interest of maintaining honor and social standing in their respective communities. The Pashtuns strategic location in Central Asia has been a partial cause of seemingly never-ending conflicts. From the colonial British and Russians jockeying for influence in the region, to the partitioning of Pakistan, the Soviet invasion, the rise of the Taliban, and the subsequent U.S. invasion- the Pashtuns have endured their fair share of conflict. On their side, the Pashtuns continue to follow a sociai code of conduct known as Pashtunwali, which dictates patterns of social interaction. Invaders have typically characterized the Pashtuns as a violent warrior culture. Furthermore, the environment of perpetual conflict in the region has been a contributing factor to the evolution of a continuing culture of