This book argues that post-2001 Afghanistan is best understood in terms of political networks. It discusses how informal political networks, engaging in patronage, corruption and illegality, effectively constitute the state, overriding state-centric and system-centric approaches to state building. It considers how political networks evolved, explores how they manage to control key sectors of the economy including mining, banking and drugs, and examines how they affect elections and political processes in the legislature. The book concludes that although these political networks exacerbate...

This book maps out how political networks and centres of power, engaged in patronage, corruption, and illegality, effectively constituted the Afghan state, often with the complicity of the U.S.-led military intervention.