Politics and governance in Afghanistan: The case of Kandahar

The second in a series of case studies undertaken by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit(AREU) and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as part of the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC)’s work, this research aims to look at subnational governance and access to public goods. It seeks to understand the power relations at play, attempting to separate how government functions in reality from narratives created by the international community about how government should function. Kandahar was chosen for research based on its economic, political and social importance, being only second to Kabul as a political seat of power. There is an old adage that whoever controls Kandahar controls Afghanistan, but the reverse could equally be true: whoever controls Afghanistan must control Kandahar.