NATO’s state-building mission in Afghanistan failed to establish a modern state. This article offers a macro sociological explanation for the intervention’s outcome by applying Luhmann’s theory of societal differentiation to a case of external state-building. In this framework there are three basic forms of societal differentiation: Segmentation, stratification and functional differentiation. The modern state, as defined by Weber, can only work under the conditions of functional differentiation. Afghanistan, however, is characterized by stratification and, in some areas, segmentation. Therefore, enforcing modern statehood in the Afghan society leads to stark contradictions and undermines the country’s stability. At the same time, the Taliban enjoy a competitive advantage because their model of governance is better suited for a stratified society. These findings suggest that NATO should focus on strengthening a benevolent neopatrimonial
