The Arbaki (

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

: اربکي, singular اربکی) are a voluntary group within a

Pashtun tribe The Pashtun tribes (), are tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who speak the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, the social code of conduct for Pashtuns. They are found primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan ...

which implement the orders of a

jirga A jirga (, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic groups who ...

and operate similarly to a

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

force.

History

In Pashtun tribal society, the primary role of the Arbaki was to maintain stability. Arbaki operated like police forces, and did not enter into the territories of other tribes. The term "Arbaki" comes from the Pashto word for "messenger". Pashtuns described the concept of Arbaki as a voluntary group of adults who are specially selected, who carry out their responsibilities and implement the decisions of the Jirga, and to secure their tribal territory and take action against violations of law. Arbaki were traditionally formed by request of a jirga, and sometimes take orders from multiple jirgas at community, clan or tribe level. Higher jirgas intervene when a dispute needs rises upwards. The jirga provided logistical and financial support to the arbaki, although the Arbaki members traditionally did not accept payment. Jirgas used a system in which one of every forty mirah (men who embody

Pashtunwali Pashtunwali (), also known as Pakhtunwali and Afghaniyat, is the traditional lifestyle or a code of honour and tribal code of the Pashtuns, Pashtun people, from Afghanistan and Pakistan, by which they live. Many scholars widely have interpreted it ...

) in a tribe were selected to serve as Arbaki. Arbaki were not always armed and some specialised in implementing Pashtunwali. Arbaki who acted by jirga mandate and killed someone while performing duties were generally exempt from badal, a Pashtunwali principle which espoused reciprocal killings. The

Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was a presidential republic in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2021. The state was established to replace the Afghan Afghan Interim Administration, interim (2001–2002) and Transitional Islamic State of Afghanist ...

had paid and supported the Arbaki, and mobilised them alongside the

Afghan Local Police The Afghan Local Police (ALP) was a US- UK sponsored local law enforcement agency, defence force and militia in Afghanistan as part of the Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. Formed primarily as a local defence force against Taliban insurgen ...

. During the 2001-2021 War in Afghanistan, there were instances of Arbaki violence towards civilians. The Arbaki maintained stability in Pashtun regions, and the Afghan government attempted to implement the Arbaki system among different ethnic groups, although it ultimately failed.Stabilising the Contemporary Middle East and North Africa: Regional Actors and New Approaches, 2019, pp. 101

References

{{Reflist Pashtun society Pashtun politics Society of Afghanistan