THE SOVIETS AND THE TRIBES OF SOUTHWEST ASIA (SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP81B00401R000400110004-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2006
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: September 23, 1980
• Content Type: MEMO

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23 September 1980
SUBJECT.- The Soviets and the Tribes of Southwest Asia
The Tribes
There are hundreds of tribes belonging to more than a dozen
ethnic grQUps in Afghanistan and neighboring areas of Iran and
Pakistan. Most are loosely organized with little or no central
authority, but in some the power of the tribal chief is nearly
absolute. Some have only a few .thousand members; others, several
hundred thousand, Some tribesmen are nomadic, most are settled
farmers, and a few have abandoned the tribal way of life almost
entirely.
These variations occur even within tribes. Pushtun Mohmands
(living on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghan border near the
Khyber, Pass} include both nomads and farmers, and some members
of the tribe have broken with traditional ways altogether to be~
come urban laborers or even physicians and lawyers.
a
Tribes in Afghanistan
Tribal loyalties have more importance among the Pushtun of
eastern and southern Afghanistan than among most of the other
ethnic groups. Among the Uzbeks of northern Afghanistan, for
example, tribal ties are weak, and they probably are not much
stronger for many of the Turkmen of northwest Afghanistan. Even
for the Pushtuns, tribal membership usually means little more
than a feeling of identity with others in the tribe. Organized
T~ ~:s memorandurd Baas prepared b~ ~ o f the Sauth~vest
Asia A'a.Z;1tic Center, Office'of PoZiticaZ AnaZz~sis. It was
?ord?,nated ~itr~ OGCR, NIO,, NESA. Comments and querties are
weZ.ecmE and shcruZd be directed to Chie~", Southz~est 4s r AnaZ? .z~
Center
25X1
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 pprA~ Dyed F.or Release 2006/12/26 :CIA-R DP81 B004018000400110004-5
action 1:ay an entire tribe is rare. An attack on one part of a
tribe may bring some response from other tribesmen not directly
affected,. but each extended family or village usually determines
its-own