Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1
Professor of Political Geography, Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
2
PhD Candidate in Political Geography, Department of Geography, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
3
Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
Abstract
Afghanistan's geopolitical position at the heart of Asia has made it a historical arena for great-power competition. This research examines how global geopolitical discourses have redefined Afghanistan's role over the past two centuries (1815–2022). The main hypothesis is that, due to its strategic location, Afghanistan has always been entangled in great-power rivalries and, as a result, its geopolitical role—with the exception of a brief period—has been largely reactive and externally imposed. This situation has been a major obstacle to sustainable development and the formation of a cohesive nation-state in Afghanistan. Using a qualitative approach and drawing on the theoretical frameworks of critical geopolitics and discourse analysis, this study identifies four distinct periods: the colonial-civilizational discourse, during which Afghanistan acted as a buffer state in the "Great Game" between Britain and Russia; the nativist discourse, a brief period during which nationalist elites led by Amanullah Khan defined a voluntary and independence-seeking role for the country; the Cold War ideological discourse, which turned Afghanistan into a proxy battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States; and the postmodern discourse, which, after 9/11, imposed the role of a geopolitical pawn on the country in an effort to contain U.S. rivals.
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