Learning From the Swat Pathans: Political Leadership in Afghanistan, 1978–97

The conflict in Afghanistan, now two decades old, has generated considerable attention from journalists, policy analysts, and political scientists, but the literature on the conflict includes few references to the work of Fredrik Barth on political leadership among the Swat Pakhtuns of neighboring Pakistan. Here I explore the relevance of Barth's work to an analysis of the war in Afghanistan. In particular, I examine Barth's “methodological...