State and Tribe in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan

Download or read book State and Tribe in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan written by Christine Noelle and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the exception of two short periods of direct British intervention during the Anglo-Afghan Wars of 1839-42 and 1878-80, the history of nineteenth-century Afghanistan has received little attention from western scholars. This study seeks to shift the focus of debate from the geostrategic concern with Afghanistan as the bone of contention between imperial Russian and British interests to a thorough investigation of the sociopolitical circumstances prevailing within the country. On the basis of unpublished British documents and works by Afghan historians, it lays the groundwork for a better understanding of the political mechanisms at work during the early Muhammadzai era by analysing them both from the viewpoint of the center and the pierphery.