Afghanistan: What Opium Poppy and Tax Reveal about the Afghan State

Aug 30, 2017 | Middle East North Africa Financial Network
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The AfghanistanResearch and Evaluation Unit (AREU), in a European Union(EU)-funded study, has released a paper highlighting the challenges of assessing control and influence that both state and non-state actors have over the territory and population of Afghanistan. As a pilot study, the report draws on in-depth research gathered from rural respondents in 32 research sites in South and Southwestern Afghanistanin Spring 2017 as well as fieldwork in Nangarhar, and is combined with both longitudinal data collection and geospatial imagery and analysis. Through incorporating and merging GIS analysis with field research, the paper manages to draw on locally defined indicators of influence between state and non-state actors rather than relying on perceptions of potentially biased officials while also ensuring greater objectivity through identifying indicators using satellite imagery.