After the conflicts in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Chechnya, the war in Afghanistan is being explained in terms of the supremacy of ethnicity. The solution, the UN is aspiring, seems plausible: if... Show moreAfter the conflicts in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Chechnya, the war in Afghanistan is being explained in terms of the supremacy of ethnicity. The solution, the UN is aspiring, seems plausible: if representatives of all ethnic groups can be brought together into one government, the 23-year war in Afghanistan will end. But such a solution bears the danger that by linking political office and ethnicity the conflict in Afghanistan will be stabilized and even intensified. Show less
Afghanistan: Tree of Life and Kalashnikov is an exhibition (14 July 2001 - 27 January 2002) at the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. More than 20 years of war, civil war, displacement of people,... Show moreAfghanistan: Tree of Life and Kalashnikov is an exhibition (14 July 2001 - 27 January 2002) at the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. More than 20 years of war, civil war, displacement of people, and the Taliban's iconoclasm have led to immense losses of cultural treasures. At the same time the brutalities of war have inspired a new form of popular art. Baluch and Turkmen tribal women and those from other western Afghan groups weave carpets that depict automatic guns, tanks, helicopters and other motives. The exhibition exemplifies important periods of the region's culture from the Bronze Age to today, and displays a selection of these modern war carpets from a private German collection with photo documents. Show less
If the process by which we arrive at today's institutions is relevant and constrains future choices, then not only does history matter but persistent poor performance and long-run divergent... Show moreIf the process by which we arrive at today's institutions is relevant and constrains future choices, then not only does history matter but persistent poor performance and long-run divergent patterns of (socio-political and economic) development stem from a common source. The meteoric rise of the Taliban (1994-1995) as an extremist Muslim militia movement in post-Soviet Afghanistan remains an enigma to the Afghans as well as to outside observers. What is enigmatic is not so much where they come from, or what internal and external forces might be propping them up, or even the brand of Islam they are brandishing. Rather what remain puzzling are questions such as: What in the Afghan history and political culture provides space and a place for the rise of such an extremely harsh and violent militant movement at the dawn of the 21st century in this beleaguered nation? Is this an expected manifestation of recognizable historical patterns in the country? Or is it an aberration and a product of novel circumstances of post-jihad Afghanistan? If it is not a novelty, as will be argued here, then how can it be explained within the parameters of Afghanistan's social history and political culture? Show less
From 15-18 June 2000, more than 200 persons participated in an international conference entitled, 'Afghanistan - Country Without State?', organized by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Afghanistan (AGA) and... Show moreFrom 15-18 June 2000, more than 200 persons participated in an international conference entitled, 'Afghanistan - Country Without State?', organized by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Afghanistan (AGA) and the Mediothek für Afghanistan e.V. in Munich. In the almost 30 presentations given, researchers as well as representatives of NGOs and political institutions addressed the central question of whether Afghanistan is a failed or failing state. Show less
