Chapter 2 charts the trajectory of Afghanistan as a spatial formation, one created but not ‘occupied’, as it were, by colonial order. It argues that the seemingly innocuous production of Afghanistan as a ‘state of exception’ is in fact intimately tied to the logics of colonialism. Afghanistan conceived as a ‘failed’ state, a liminal zone on the periphery of civilisation, is a type of imperial formation, one necessary for the representation and establishment of the stability of the centre. It is an exploration of the intimate connections between power, knowledge and space. The chapter’s focus on the ‘state’ forms the first half of the conventional ‘state’ versus ‘tribe’ debate that animates most policy discussion about the country.G7