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Abstract

This paper explores the economic adaptation strategies of the Afghan Kyrgyz resettled in Kara-Balta, Kyrgyzstan, following their migration from the Wakhan corridor in northeastern Afghanistan. After years of negotiation between Kabul and Bishkek, the first groups arrived in 2017, with continued resettlement following the collapse of the Afghan government in 2021. While previous research has addressed the identity and displacement of the Afghan Kyrgyz, this study focuses specifically on how former nomadic herders have restructured their livelihoods in a new economic environment.

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, including interviews, participant observation, and field notes collected in Kara-Balta (Chui oblast), this paper investigates how the Afghan Kyrgyz navigate Kyrgyzstan’s labor market, how they draw on traditional knowledge, and how they respond to structural constraints. The research also examines the role of state support and local community assistance in shaping their integration and economic survival.

Preliminary insights suggest that while livestock-based economic models remain central to cultural memory, adaptation has required diversification—ranging from wage labor to small trade and reliance on diaspora networks. The transition from a semi-isolated high-mountain economy to semi-urban settlement has also raised questions of long-term economic sustainability and generational identity transformation.

This study contributes to migration and displacement literature by analyzing an under-researched case of return migration from Afghanistan to an ancestral homeland, contextualized within broader themes of mobility, statehood, and resilience in Central Asia. It highlights how economic strategies are not only survival tools, but also expressions of cultural continuity and innovation among displaced communities.

By shedding light on the Afghan Kyrgyz case, the paper also informs broader conversations on migrant integration, rural-to-urban transition, and adaptation in post-Soviet contexts.