Tropes like the burqa-clad woman and extremist Taliban fighter have become stereotypes and stand-ins for our understanding of Islam in Afghanistan and of extremes within Islamic interpretations writ large. Images of soldiers in desert-like mountain areas proliferate in media depictions, casting Afghanistan in the colonial-Orientalist trope of the empty space. What chances do ethnographic and discursive engagements offer to acknowledge and unlearn these limiting discourses? Bringing several research lines together, insights from religious civil society activists, Taliban ministers and Sufi teachers, as well as debates with nomads or environmental scientists researching war legacies offer analytical ways forward. The talk reflects on these emerging opportunities when taking the margins as a vantage point to re-define our frames of reference.