[link|http://www.thenewrepublic.com/123101/rubin123101.html|No wonder they can't get their act together]
Excerpt:
There's an old Pashtun proverb, Sami told me, that goes something like this: "A cousin is good against another tribe. A brother is good against cousins. And a son is good against brothers." Which is why if you don't give birth to a son here in Pashtunwali land, you're as good as finished. "All your assets will go to your enemy," said Sami, who has only four daughters. And who's the enemy? Your cousin.
I say:
It's called amoral familism, and it is a recipe for chronic backwardness. It boils down to a failure to consider the big picture, a narrowness of moral imagination just one step short of nihilism.