Social Relationships and Rural Livelihood Security in Afghanistan

This article examines the importance of a range of types of social relationships, characterised by differing levels of privilege, power, obligation and reciprocity, to rural Afghan livelihood security. Specifically, it explores how rural Afghan households in Kandahar and Badakhshan provinces negotiate within their diverse social environments, characterised by varied forms of institutional weakness and local power structures, to achieve some measure of physical and economic security. It draws from household case study data to assess how households are integrated into social relationships of variable quality and usefulness and under what conditions these relationships facilitate autonomous versus dependent security. In doing so, the article explores the importance of context, linking the details of household experiences to their village and provincial locations. The findings provide an understanding of the local social hierarchies and relations with which development actors must engage to successfully design and deliver poverty reduction programming, something which has been little evident to date, particularly in national policymaking processes and post-2014 transition strategies.