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This chapter examines the rock carving in Rag-i Bibi in northern Afghanistan. The rock carving is situated a kilometre south of the village of Shamarq and its name literally means Veins of the Lady; which, according to local sources, refers to Bibi Fatima. The chapter also discusses iconographic and historical comments on Rag-i Bibi and evaluates the application of three-dimensional laser scanning to the Rag-i Bibi relief.

This chapter explores in greater detail the relationships between the professional, Islamic, and regional identities of traders. It does so by focusing on the northern Afghan town of Kunduz and on a group of traders in that context who identify themselves as being Panjshiri. These Panjshiris are part of complex and transregional trade networks that bring together people, things, and places across various boundaries. Whereas an important element of being a trader in contexts such as this is the ability to be flexible, this chapter explores the lives and identities of traders who emphasise instead their commitment to Islamic principles. It focuses in detail on the varying life trajectories of three brothers in Kunduz, documenting these men’s varying relationships to both reform-minded forms of Islam and movements of armed militancy, including the Taliban.

This chapter, which presents a comparison of local politics and dispute resolution in northern Afghanistan in the 1970s and 2000s, argues that the narrowly constructed Afghan Constitution of 2004, which vests all legitimate administrative authority in the Kabul government, is ill adapted to the realities of today’s Afghanistan. It is an authoritarian structure in a land that will no longer acquiesce to authority from the top. Rather than pursuing a ‘government-centric’ strategy that relies on formal institutions, a ‘governance-centric’ approach would give priority to reinforcing elements of self-rule at the local level and would reorient the national government’s focus to higher-level problems that are beyond the capacity of local communities to handle.

This chapter presents a case study of a provincial governor in northern Afghanistan. It describes his aspirations; the options and constraints he finds himself confronted with; and the various networks in which he seems to be embedded. The chapter shows how the rationality of this individual is directly influenced by family affairs as well as local and national politics, and demonstrates that politicians are caught in a dense web of various interests, obligations, and dependencies that constrain their decision-making and political behaviour.