'One Stone Is Enough to Drive Away a Hundred Birds'1: Peasants, Land and Resistance in Contemporary Afghanistan. (26th November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Akram‐Lodhi, A. Haroon
• Is Part Of: Journal of agrarian change. Volume 16:Number 1(2016:Jan.)
• Page Start: 168
• Page End: 179
• Publication Date: 2015-11-26
• Subjects: Pakhtun -- Pashtun -- Pathan -- Afghanistan -- peasants -- resistance -- agrarian question; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Periodicals -- History; Land tenure -- Periodicals; Land reform -- Periodicals; 338.1
• DOI: 10.1111/joac.12134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1471-0358

Abstract

Abstract : Five books on the war in Afghanistan and contemporary Pakhtun life are reviewed from the perspective of the insights they provide into peasant resistance to the Afghan government and the United States. It is argued that while these books are important in improving our understanding of peasant resistance to the US‐led invasion of Afghanistan, with the exception of the monograph by Ahmed they offer only a partial account of the dynamics of resistance, because they fail to adequately integrate the ontology of the Pakhtun into their accounts, and the material foundations of that ontology. The result is that important elements of peasant resistance in Afghanistan are obscured.