Originally published online in 2008 by Columbia University Press; first paperback edition published in 2011.

Introduction : the historical location and conceptual framing of Afghanistan -- Financing the Kabul produce -- Contracting nomadic carriage for an aquatic agenda -- Fiscal instability and state revenue reformulation during the first British occupation --Capital concentrations and coordinations : Peshawar subsidies and Kabul workshops -- New state texts and old commercial flows -- Mutual evasion between Afghanistan and the global marketplace -- Conclusion : deflecting colonial canons and cannons : alternate routes to knowing Afghanistan.