Their fidelity is measured by the length of the purse of their seducer, and they transfer their obedience [...]according to the liberality of the donation.
Frederick Mackeson, a colonial officer in the NWFP in the 1850s, speaking of the Afridi Pathans.

The germs of confidence once established amidst these people always bear fruit and increase [...]The deadliest of enemies dropped their feuds for the time being while I was in camp. Property was always safe.
Sir Robert Warburton, a colonial officer in the NWFP from 1879 to 1898, also speaking of the Afridi Pathans.

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We have inherited a somewhat fuzzy usage of the term 'tribe' and 'tribal' from early British anthropology. 'Tribe' was often used in a rather derogatory manner for relatively small ethnic groups who lived as 'underdeveloped' (formerly called 'primitive' or even 'savage') minorities, far from the majorities' cultural and social mainstream. No wonder that the term 'tribe' became obsolete in many continents, and former objects of anthropological investigation are nowadays less ready to accept labels for their respective ethnic groups which seem derogatory to them.

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Since its beginning the recent Afghan jihad was not only directed against an alien invasion and an imported ideology, but also against obsolete internal political structures which long before 1978 had encroached on traditional values without improving the standard of living of most people. After the withdrawal of the Red Army the country is still under considerable influence from outside powers which do not allow Afghanistan to come to terms with her own social and political problems. A case in point is the recent emergence of the powerful Taliban movement whose success is partly due to Pakistan's support. Basically the Taliban are an indigenous movement whose motives of action are rooted in the norms and values of a large part of the traditional society. In order to analyse the present civil war in Afghanistan indigenous as well as exogenous factors have to be taken into consideration as well as the motives of the acting persons who consciously reflect their role in different contexts, be it local, regional, interregional, inter-ethnic, and international.

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