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Zaman Stanizai is professor of Islamic Traditions at the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California. Dr. Stanizai has written extensively on a wide range of topics from Indo-Iranian languages to identity politics and political philosophy and from Esoteric Islamic thought to Sufi poetry. A published poet himself, he has translated the works of Rumi and Hafiz, among others. He received his MA in Linguistics from the University of Washington and an MA and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Southern California.
The “new and improved” tactics of “divide and conquer” are operational both at the vertical and horizontal layers of the government and society in Afghanistan.
When social order is politically disturbed in a society like Afghanistan, inter- and intra-group dynamics set forces in motion that cannot be harnessed once unleashed. While group dynamics dictate, for instance, that majorities behave as an integrative and cohesive force as their sense of loyalty lies in the wellbeing of the collective whole, a minority’s interests may on occasion diverge in the pursuit of greener pastures across the fence, allowing themselves to be used as vulnerable pawns by others.
