I am not an expert on Afghanistan but I have a suggestion from one of my anthro classes long ago. One of our required books was "Buzkashi: Game & Power in Afghanistan", which examines Afghani culture through the lens of buzkashi, a sport played on horseback.

I would recommend:

Barfield, Thomas J. Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2012.

...although this book too tends to fall back on historical war analysis quite a bit. Afghanistan's place in the modern world has been defined largely through conflict.