Border Crossings

The Politics of Transnationality in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Frontier Region

Resumo

The border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan are a complex setting that defies static, and statist generalizations – generalizations that often betray the prejudices left behind as traces of a bygone colonial era, or the ongoing power of Orientalist discourse, like the essentialist discourse on Pashtun tribalism or Islamist radicalization. This article contends that any useful study of the socalled Af-Pak border region should move away from such stereotypical narratives, and focus instead on the strategies and repertories (i.e. practices) of actors, as examples of transnational mobilization that transcends both formal state institutions, and the legal strictures of the Durand Line. Moreover, the list of actors to study – especially for those trying to develop policy – relevant recommendations – should go beyond ‘tribal militants’. Instead, such a list should include diverse social and political movements and networks, and examine their relationship to one another, often in looser transnational coalitions. The competent study of the border region must also pay attention to the strategies of actors in relation to the transborder, transnational space they inhabit (social as well as geographic) in which mobilization occurs, as in the case of refugees, IDP’s, or diasporas (including ethnic communities spread throughout regional urban settings). The article proposes that the way forward relies on strategies which avoid the subalternization of local perspectives, local knowledge, and local practices.