Afghanistan has often been described as a patchwork of different ethnolinguistic groups. At a closer glance, most of them actually share common material and cultural traits such as livelihoods and religion. However, Persian-speaking Shia sedentary farmers Hazaras and Pashto-speaking Sunni nomad pastoralists Kuchis can be taken to represent quite the extreme poles. Brought by historical vicissitudes to compete for the same lands in the central highlands of Afghanistan, these two groups have often found themselves at the odd ends of the conflicts which have plagued the country’s recent history. This competition has proven for both the Hazaras and the Kuchis one of the foremost defining factors of group identity and – in the context of the communal strategies of survival employed by various segments of the population to navigate the harsh reality of Afghan politics and economics – it has contributed to inform their respective political stances, internal leaderships and potential for collective action. Starting from the re-orientation of the transhumance routes of the nomads at the end of the 19th century, the relationship between the Kuchis and the sedentary farmers of the Hazarajat will be explored, focusing on their unbalanced social and economic statuses during the comparatively peaceful decades of the mid-20th century and on the radical changes and polarization brought by the later conflicts until the current situation, once again characterised by disputed claims and the domination of one group over the other.