User:VDatta/sandbox

Vanita Datta – Excerpt - Discussing the role of the State in Afghanistan < Sources: Conducting a DG Assessment: A Framework for Strategy Development – USAID Technical Publication (PN-ACP-338) The Future of AfghanistanJanuary 2009 | Book by J. Alexander Thier, editor

Despite foreign intervention and almost three decades of conflict, the Afghanistan remains a traditional society. Social mores and religious observances are strictly maintained. Almost 50 percent of the population lives in villages inhabited by less than 400 persons. The mountainous topography and harsh climate has made access to some areas difficult and many inhabitants have never stepped outside their immediate surroundings. The external environment is shut out by stringent codes of honor, religious dogma and privacy which govern communities. Disputes of property, marriage, water rights and access, are settled by traditional face-to-face means, where village elders and local Mullahs (priests), nearly always functionally illiterate. In fact and estimated 60 percent of the population is illiterate.

The resilience of the Afghan population has been strengthened by these strong traditional communities, social and family structures that have survived conflict and anarchy. The almost two decades of centralization efforts, the reach of the central government is tenuous in many parts of the country. Traditional institutions for rural Afghans still provide the kinds of services and support that they have relied on for centuries. The perception of the central state for most Afghans is still fuzzy at best and for many, it could be contended that the central government has failed them.