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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: September 5, 2019 at 8:39:45 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-War]: Buck on Fredholm, 'Afghanistan Beyond the Fog > of War: Persistent Failure of a Rentier State' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Michael Fredholm. Afghanistan Beyond the Fog of War: Persistent > Failure of a Rentier State. Copenhagen NIAS PRESS, 2018. 368 pp. > $35.00 (paper), ISBN 978-87-7694-251-9. > > Reviewed by Brandan Buck (George Mason) > Published on H-War (September, 2019) > Commissioned by Margaret Sankey > > A bevy of works on Afghanistan's political, economic, and security > issues have been published since 9/11. Traditional histories of > modern Afghanistan are typically written episodically, treating > events as a series of conflicts predicated by a succession of > invasions and coups. Similarly, most works in the field focus on the > country's immeasurable security issues and reason their way > backwards, seeking answers on how to curb violence while overlooking > Afghanistan's core political issues. Historian Michael Fredholm > addresses both shortcomings in _Afghanistan__ Beyond the Fog of War: > Persistent Failure of a Rentier State. _An exhaustive and sober > examination of Afghanistan's recent history, this book argues that > the country's political economy was irrevocably guided by Abdur > Rahman Khan. Rahman, also known as the "Iron Amir," was Afghanistan's > first modern ruler and initiator of a governing model centered on > security, modernization, and economic reform. Fredholm examines how > the amir sought to implement his model by centralizing power through > Pashtunization, the creation of a modern, centralized military, and > coopting local power brokers, particularly rural imams. Fredholm > further argues that this method of governing impacted and, > ultimately, ruined Afghanistan's political development. He claims > that Afghanistan's rulers--be they strongmen, Soviet, or > Western-backed leaders--have since sought to implement Abdur Rahman > Khan's model, rather than pursuing more accommodationist political > arrangements. This desire for centralization has inflamed > Afghanistan's ethnic tensions, exacerbated rifts between religiously > conservative rural areas and more secular urban centers, and > furthered Afghanistan's dependence upon foreign aid, which has > undermined its independence. > > Fredholm's content is expansive, consisting of ten chapters that > stretch from the rule of Abdur Rahman Khan (who reigned between 1880 > and 1901) through the coalition troop drawdown in 2014. A final > chapter speculates as to Afghanistan's future. Chapters 1 and 2 set > up Fredholm's argument by describing Rahman's early state-building > efforts. They then examine tactics by Rahman's immediate Barakzai > dynasty successors through the first half of the twentieth century > and the genesis of Afghanistan's status as a rentier state. The > author outlines how Afghanistan's succession of kings wrangled with > various local power brokers, foreign interests, and rural religious > leaders. > > Chapters 3 through 5 cover Afghan political history and foreign > relations during the 1960s, political turmoil during the 1970s, the > Soviet invasion, and subsequent Soviet-Afghan War. The strongest > material in these chapters is in Fredholm's treatment of > Afghanistan's domestic political fracturing prior to the bloodless > 1973 coup initiated by Mohammed Daoud Khan. The author interestingly > internationalizes the growth of Afghan political radicalism during > the 1960s, illustrating that the Afghan Marxist Left and Islamic > Right drew inspiration from abroad. As to the latter, Fredholm argues > that Afghanistan's turn toward political Islam was rooted in its own > experience with student radicalism and academic connections to > Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood (p. 97). Fredholm effectively argues that > the ideological core of Afghanistan's Islamic modernist movement was > urban and internationally inspired, both of which force a > reexamination of common conceptions of Islamic radicalism within the > country. While other works (such as Thomas Barfield's _Afghanistan_, > 2010) have highlighted these phenomena, Fredholm shows how these > nascent Islamic movements interacted with traditional conceptions of > a nominally secular state and traditional, rural religious interests. > > Similarly, Fredholm argues that experiences of the Afghan > diasporas--displaced by the Soviet invasion, subsequent civil war, > and Taliban control--had profound effects upon conceptions of the > Afghan state. Chapters 6 through 10 address the US invasion of the > country, the creation of the new Islamic republic, and a multitude of > issues related thereto. Central to the author's argument is his > catalogue of the growth and influence of the Afghan diaspora and the > impact of its visons of Afghan statehood. He asserts that this group > of Afghan influencers envisioned a strong, centralized post-Taliban > state built upon the Rahman model. It was this clique, embodied best > by Hamid Karzai, who led the new Afghan state down a path of hyper > centralization. Fredholm convincingly argues that the United States > was all too happy to build such a government because it would be in > line with international norms and would be conducive to US influence > via aid distribution. Unfortunately, as Fredholm contends, the new > centralized state undermined traditional regional power brokers, > exacerbated ethnic tensions, incentivized fraud, and created an > unresponsive political environment. > > Fredholm's final chapter speculates on Afghanistan's political future > and poses provocative questions as to the nature of political > relations and the legitimacy of centralized power. Is it ethical--and > ultimately prudent--to achieve security diffusely through local power > brokers, often referred to as "warlords?" Is such a label a fair > characterization? He concludes by asserting that federalism is > perhaps the country's best hope for political stability and therefore > the end to active conflict. The final chapter highlights that > Rahman's centralization model was dependent upon the successful > application of power and the suppression of ethnic and clerical > interests. Such a harsh model is no longer possible given modern > Afghanistan's political landscape and the international norms hooked > to foreign aid. > > The work's primary flaw is perhaps its inclusiveness with regard to > content. It often reads like a work of narrative history and > therefore retreads well-worn ground. Given Fredholm's > comprehensiveness, it is at times unclear as to how the various > aspects of Afghanistan's recent history fit into his overall > argument. Also, Fredholm could have supported his argument with > evidence that showed the intellectual transmission of Rahman's model > through the country's various regimes, which was especially true > after the overthrow of the Afghan monarchy. How did Rahman's ideas of > governing survive the removal of the Barakzai Dynasty? How did they > make the jump from monarchy to communism to theocracy and to the > current Islamic republic? As strong as this work is, one is left to > wonder if the Rahman model is causal or merely a consequence of > Afghanistan's unique human and physical geography. > > Despite these drawbacks _Afghanistan Beyond the Fog of War: > Persistent Failure of a Rentier State_ is an exceptionally well-done > book on Afghanistan's modern political history. Fredholm's political > lens poses provocative questions and ties together content that is > often presented discontinuously. > > Citation: Brandan Buck. Review of Fredholm, Michael, _Afghanistan > Beyond the Fog of War: Persistent Failure of a Rentier State_. H-War, > H-Net Reviews. September, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=53661 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
