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Post-Taliban Recovery and Community-Driven Development in Afghanistan
FIGURE 13.1 Collapse and recovery of community well-being in Ramili Qali, Afghanistan 4 Destruction of irrigation
Community well-being
3 2 1 0 1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
2008
–1 –2
Exile
Resettlement and reconstruction
–3 –4 Source: Household questionnaire. Note: Community well-being is consolidated from ratings of individual well-being on a ladder of life. The solid line represents the study period.
communities in postconflict Afghanistan shared similar experiences of war and destruction.4 Nationwide, more than two decades of war left behind a devastated infrastructure, weak institutions, and crushed livelihoods. The conflict displaced over 6 million people, many of whom lived or continue to live in exile. It shredded the social and institutional fabric of a peaceful nation, eventually turning it into a safe haven for extremist movements and illegal groups at the turn of the twenty-first century. While many communities, especially in the eastern and southern parts of the country, were struggling, others like Ramili Qali recovered with the help of a combination of factors, including external assistance and community-driven reconstruction. This chapter examines six communities, five rural and one urban, to highlight the conditions that seem to have influenced postconflict transition paths in the relatively secure northern half of Afghanistan (map 13.1). By examining communities that experienced different trajectories of war and different postconflict environments, we try to learn about the factors that affect people’s quest for recovery. We explore the interactions between individual and collective mobility efforts on the one hand and postconflict livelihood opportunities, external assistance, local democracy, and social links on the other hand. As we try to capture the underlying sources and sequencings that