Afghan internationalism and the question of Afghanistan's political legitimacy

Abstract

This article uses Afghan engagement with twentieth-century international politics to reflect on the fluctuating nature of Afghan statehood and citizenship, with a particular focus on Afghanistan's political ‘revolutions’ in 1973 and 1978. By considering the ways in which Afghan leaders asserted their politics in the international sphere, some of the key concerns of the Afghan state become clear. In order to assert their authority and gain credence among international observers, Afghan leaders both drew on and rejected their state's political history, ultimately leading to a top-down reconceptualization of Afghan statehood and the citizen which relied on a territorially defined state, rather than ethnicity. Two issues especially shaped Afghan foreign engagement: a longstanding tradition of political neutrality, or bi-tarafi, and demands for international recognition of an autonomous Pashtun state in the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands. These interests frequently conflicted, but both played critical roles in prolonging regional instability. Afghan leadership ultimately latched onto, publicized, and justified contradictory definitions of Afghan statehood and citizenship that could not be reconciled.