Can Afghanistan and the Occupations It Suffers Be Explained with Karl Polanyi's "Double Movement" Concept?

Abstract

In the last one hundred and fifty years of its history, Afghanistan has been subjected to prolonged occupations by the major powers of the time. However, all occupying forces eventually had to withdraw. The fact that a poor and multi-ethnic country like Afghanistan was occupied for many years by the great powers of the time, and that these occupations all ended in failure, requires explanation from various perspectives. While the British and Russian occupations in the 19(th) and 20(th) centuries can be relatively explained by geographical difficulties, attributing the American occupation in the 20(th) century solely to geography would be insufficient, given the sophistication of of military technology and its equipments. However, explaining the occupations in Afghanistan through Karl Polanyi's "double movement" concept to describe the market economy endorses broad intellectual possibilities. Polanyi's such conceptualization -market society and the resistance of society to protect traditional values against it- allows us to explain Afghanistan's resistance vis-& agrave;-vis its occupations within the same conceptual framework.