Disguised warlordism and combatanthood in Balkh: the persistence of informal power in the formal Afghan state

Deutschlands (Nicht-)Drogenpolitik in Afghanistan

“…Das Narrativ von "warlords" und politischen Figuren, die sich vorzuziehender "good governance" befleißigen, wird demgegenüber auch in Balkh reproduziert, obwohl auch dort komplizierte Aushandlungsprozesse stattfinden und notwendig sind, um zeitweise Stabilität zu produzieren (Mansfield 2010, S. 18;Mukhopadhyay 2009). Durch die Beförderung von Kommandeuren auf wichtige Posten konnte Gouverneur Atta die Drogenwirtschaft, insbesondere den Anbau, einschränken -allerdings ist die Provinz eine wirtschaftliche Drehscheibe, so dass die sozialen Folgen und damit das politische Risiko für diese Maßnahmen gering sind, weil hinreichende wirtschaftliche Alternativen existieren.…”

Securing Afghanistan: from the inside out

“…Williams takes a nearly opposite view of Dostum, viewing him as a protector of the Uzbek people and important ally of the US who helped to topple the Taliban regime. Recently, scholars such as Dipali Mukhopadhyay (2014Mukhopadhyay ( , 2009) have helped us unpack this complicated and often pejorative concept. Her fieldwork looked at how former warlords have a complicated role in government, where patronage is often balanced by provision of public goods.…”

Insecurity and Support for Female Leadership in Conflict States: Evidence from Afghanistan

“…In practice, these local bodies were hampered by a lack of authority stemming from poorly defined roles, and gender quotas were not always enforced (Bhatia, Jareer, and Mcintosh 2018; Brown 2021). By contrast, informal governing institutions and networks remained highly influential (Mukhopadhyay 2009a).…”