powerful tribal maliks by conceding extensive local autonomy. For the last three years the USSR has contributed upto 18 per cent of the Afghan budget, and released millions of dollars worth of foreign exchange to finance the import of consumer goods. As the Afghan Aid Committee report makes clear, Kabul has absorbed an influx of refugees from the countryside without suffering acute food shortages; Kabul's traditional position as a centre of trade has been combined with a government policy to release fifty tonnes of wheat per day on to the market at the subsidised rate of 120 a/s.