Why Afghanistan’s Tribes Beat the United States Tightly bound kinship networks aren’t vestiges of the past. They’re a modern—and effective—form of political organization.

Tribes have existed for millennia in the area that is present-day Afghanistan. They emerged over centuries in various sections of the country, taking form along extended kinship lines.

More on: Democracy. Afghanistan. If U.S. commanders do turn to Afghanistan’s tribes-a similar strategy is already being employed by Pakistan in that country’s tribal regions-it would amount to ...

David Ignatius: The jumble of ad hoc ideas for Afghanistan isn't necessarily a bad thing: Similar experimentation in Iraq helped produce the unlikely network that finally began to improve security ...

Afghan and U.S. officials are encouraged by a recent deal in eastern Afghanistan under which a major tribe has agreed to keep the Taliban out of their territory in return for aid. But while the ...

Six weeks ago, elders of the Shinwari tribe, which dominates a large area in southeastern Afghanistan, pledged that they would set aside internal differences to focus on fighting the Taliban. This ...

Afghanistan was saved by a 2009-2012 troop surge, which tripled the number of troops in the country, conveyed a message of strength to the tribes, and saved the south and east from a Taliban conquest.

GARDEZ, Afghanistan -- Abid has found an unlikely combat role in a country where most such jobs are taken up by the Afghan security forces and the Taliban as fighting between the two sides continues.

The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold agreed to support the U.S.-backed government, battle insurgents and burn down the home of any Afghan who harbors Taliban ...

A number of experts now say the U.S. should abandon its “top down” strategy of building an Afghan national army. Better is a "bottom up" approach that arms and pays local tribes to fight the ...