Pashtunwali (literally: the way of the Pashtun) describes the idealized behavior of Pashtun tribesmen in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This thesis defines Pashtunwali, examines its relevance to modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan, and then explores its impact on the U.S. military.

It recommends that the U.S. military maintain cultural learning organizations with permanently assigned officers and civilian experts, while leveraging the expertise of academic regional specialists. It outlines the requirements for a tribal engagement strategy in Afghanistan. Finally, it advocates training soldiers and Marines on tactical Pashtunwali.

The following are significant conclusions: first, the U.S. military is not incorporating the experiences of the British Indian Army in frontier warfare. Second, modern Pashtun behavior deviates from the Pashtunwali model advanced by Akbar S. Ahmed in Resistance and Control in Pakistan. Third, the U.S. Army’s Human Terrain System (HTS) and the U.S. Marine Corps’ Center for Advanced Operational Cultural Knowledge (CAOCL) provide detailed and useful cultural knowledge to the military. Finally, many authors rely on Pashtunwali when thinking about Afghan tribal engagement.