1. A shocking number of US policy decisions in 2001-2009 were based on reductionist assumptions about how Pashtuns or Tajiks etc thought, or what they would or would not do as political actors. Whom they would or would not support, etc. Assumptions based on absolutely nothing.
2. Tautologies were the norm. "Everyone says that Pashtuns..." How do we know this to be true? "Because everyone says so."
3. This, for example, is how Karzai got picked and installed on the throne. A series of baseless assumptions translated into selection criteria, which resulted in the USG picking him and sticking with him.
4. Of course by USG I mean a few individuals.
5. A big assumption was that Pashtuns would never accept a Tajik ruler. Might be true. But here's the thing: WE HAD NO REASON TO KNOW THIS other than the tautology, "everyone says." That's it. That was all the data we had.
6. There was an astonishing number of people running around who suddenly were experts in Pashtun culture. And experts in "ethnicity" as a driver of politics.
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