Redlegs:

I'd focus a little more broadly.

On a very general basis, stay focused on Dayuhan's comments from the perspective of a rural inhabitant, who can, like Europe, prosper as a niche farmer in an urban truck garden shadow---about 50 miles depending on transport links.

That aside, rural inhabitants face starvation and death from weather, crop failures, market or market/political forces.

Two hypothetical responses to challenge: Huddle up into tight protective bands, or move to the city.

Best planning (if practical) may be to support small regional satellite towns that can help make far rural life more tenable. This in lieu of trying to fix the mega city.

Folks were intrigued by all the farms in Baghdad city. Look at the depopulating towns (Detroit), etc., as on the same path (boom bust) that drove some of this.... want to farm in Detroit? Plenty of small parcels unused.

At the 50,000 foot level, I am interested in the population settlement expansions across Pashtun historical territories, together with other pressures (radio, tv, etc...) on the old ways and links. How is that big mega-trend related to the conflicts we stumble around about down below?