The Key to Sub-National Governance in South-eastern Afghanistan
Summary
Tribal agreements in South-eastern Afghanistan continue to be an important means to establish binding rules within and between tribal groups and to negotiate governance and security issues between tribes and the Afghan government (and supporting international military forces).
International actors promoting such local security arrangements need to understand existing local institutions, the geographic concepts of tribal jurisdiction (manteqas/wandas) and the level of tribal fragmentation.
Only where tribal institutions are still very much intact, links between formal and informal security institutions can strengthen Afghan government structures.
