Military Review English Edition May-June 2014 | Page 75

INSIGHT push into the deeper valleys of Korengal, Weygal, or Nuristan proper. The Nuristanis maintained their de facto independence in return for religious subjugation and recognizing the Pashtun king as their sovereign. This system of swearing fealty to the conquering emir in return for local autonomy is similar to the medieval European feudal system. As long as the taxes were paid, loyalty was sworn, and troops provided when needed, the local tribes were allowed relative autonomy. This ancient system of governance continues to this day within the Talibanrun parallel government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This tribal system of governance derives its legitimacy from its sheer longevity in central Asia, where the people have known it since before the Persian conquest in the 5th century BC. The Nuristani valley tribes are still ruled by an informal gathering of local elders. This system of governance enjoys the full support of the Nuristani peoples, who have resisted all other forms of government. The elders comprise the true legitimate government of Nuristan, using a rudimentary form of democracy through a system of shuras (referring to an approach to decision making involving a consultative council) to build valley-wide consensus. The corrupt officials of Karzai’s government never achieved legitimacy in this region. Their insistence on halting the native logging trade in the name of nature conservation is a direct affront to the traditional Nuristani way of living.7 To the Nuristanis, unaccustomed to government meddling in their internal affairs, the Afghan officials’ attempt at halting their native economy while building roads and police stations with an overt U.S. presence appeared to be an invasion by corrupt proxies of the West. The settlement pattern of the Pashay Pashtuns in the Kunar Valley leading into the Pech Valley is the historic outline, or the high water mark, of the Pashtun conquest of the Nuristanis. It also marks the furthest extent of the control and governance by the Pashtun-dominated leadership of the government of Afghanistan. This crucial fact has been glossed over during the past 10 years of war in Afghanistan. Defensive valley civilization of Nuristan. Due to the lack of Nuristani historiography, we have to speculate as to how they conducted their wars of resistance against past invaders. However, their culture bears the scars of centuries of defensive warfare. People throughout the world prefer to live MILITARY REVIEW May-June 2014 in the most naturally comfortable locations that support their lifestyles. This means they build houses in locations that provide easy access to transportation and water. This explains the prevalence of cities and towns around the world near coastlines or by rivers, usually on a plain or a small patch of flat land. People generally do not like to live on steep slopes or on high ground away from their water source or farms. Walking from a house built on a steep slope down to the river to draw water every morning is a very tiring act, unnatural to most people in the world. The typical layout of towns and villages in the Korengal and Weygal valleys demonstrates an unnatural pattern of settlement. While the sparse farm plots of the Nuristanis remain on the small valley floor, their houses are built in crowded formations along the steep hillsides. These multistory houses are built with stones, with small windows facing the valley floor. This uncommon style of settlement is traditional to the Nuristanis. The Pashay Pashtuns of Pech and lower Kunar live on the valley floor, using traditional mud bricks for their houses (see figure 2). The most likely explanation for this type of village design is that the Nuristanis built their houses on steep hillsides to defend themselves against invaders who traveled up the valley floors to try to conquer them. The design of the villages is the culmination of the Nuristani tribes’ two millennia of generally successful defense of their culture and their way of life (see figure 3). The villages of Korengal and Aranas show an advanced defensive design allowing nearly all houses of a village to provide suppressive fire on the single narrow chokepoint that leads into the main valley. One can easily imagine the villages adopting this defensive formation over time in place of the more comfortable formation that would have placed the houses near the valley floors. The Nuristanis are de facto independent tribal nations, each ruled by a council of elders; their fortified towns have helped the tribes protect their autonomy for millennia. COIN or Invasion? U.S. COIN doctrine assumes that forces are supporting a legitimate government, however basic, with the aim of increasing its legitimacy, influence, and strength. It identifies the “people” as the center of gravity, whose support the U.S. 73