Afghanistan |
 | DEALING WITH THE TALIBAN: INDIA'S STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER U.S. WITHDRAWAL By Rudra Chaudhuri and Shreyas Shende
An agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban on February 29, 2020, marks a
milestone in America’s longest ever war. Accordingly, the majority of U.S. troops are expected to
withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2021. In turn, and if this agreement is successfully implemented, sections of the Taliban could be expected to play a larger role in Afghan politics. This is
hardly desirable for a country like India. Indian assets in Afghanistan have been targeted by the
Haqqani ...Read more > | 48 Pages 640.54 KB |
|
 | LEARNING THE RIGHT LESSONS FROM THE AFGHAN WAR By Anthony H. Cordesman
The U.S. has a poor history of making effective efforts to learn the lessons of its recent wars, and
it is already focusing on other strategic issues, and the crises that are following the collapse of
Afghanistan. It will be all too easy for U.S. policymakers and the Congress to ignore the need to
learn from the preceding twenty years of conflict and to fail to preserve the data and institutions
necessary to learn as much from the war and the collapse of the Afghan government and forces ...Read more > | 128 Pages 6.57 MB |
|
 | INSURGENT BUREAUCRACY: HOW THE TALIBAN MAKES POLICY By Ashley Jackson and Rahmatullah Amiri
The Taliban’s system of shadow governance in Afghanistan and the experiences of
civilians now living under Taliban rule are each well documented by both scholars and
journalists. The precise policies that guide Taliban governance and the factors that
have shaped these rules are little understood, however. This report, which is based
on more than a hundred interviews with Taliban fighters and officials as well as with
civilians living in areas under Taliban control, provides insights into ...Read more > | 44 Pages 1.68 MB |
|
 | AN AFGHAN TRAGEDY: THE PASHTUNS, THE TALIBAN AND THE STATE By Anatol Lieven
It is an old cliché that the Pashtun highlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan
are highly resistant to state authority, and old masters of ‘the art of not being
governed’ (to use James Scott’s phrase).1
Like so many clichés, this has a real
basis in historical fact. The old name ‘Yaghistan’ (the land of lawlessness,
rebellion or dissent)2
was given to them by the people of the region, not
by Western observers. This name, and what it indicates, also ...Read more > | 30 Pages 364.30 KB |
|
 | THE TALIBAN IN AFGHANISTAN By Lindsay Maizland
The Taliban is a predominantly Pashtun, Islamic fundamentalist group that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, when a U.S.-led invasion toppled the regime for providing refuge to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. The Taliban regrouped across the border in Pakistan and has led an insurgency against the U.S.-backed government in Kabul for more than nineteen ...Read more > | 10 Pages 447.80 KB |
|
 | U.S.-TALIBAN PEACE DEAL: WHAT TO KNOW By Lindsay Maizland
Signed in early 2020, the agreement addresses four issues: reducing violence, withdrawing foreign
troops, starting intra-Afghan negotiations, and guaranteeing Afghanistan won’t again become a
refuge for terrorists.
The agreement is only the first step to ending the more than eighteen-year war that has killed more
than 157,000 people and is estimated to have cost the United States $2 ...Read more > | 9 Pages 462.95 KB |
|
 | 2021 HIGH-RISK LIST By Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction (SIGAR) is publishing the 2021 HighRisk List to alert Members of the 117th Congress and
the Secretaries of State and Defense to major areas
of the reconstruction effort in Afghanistan at risk of
waste, fraud, abuse, mismanagement, or mission failure. Since 2014, SIGAR has developed a high-risk list
for each new Congress.
This fourth report is issued at a time when peace
negotiations between the Afghan government and ...Read more > | 84 Pages 5.19 MB |
|
 | US INTERVENTION IN AFGHANISTAN : JUSTIFYING THE UNJUSTIFIABLE? By Leoni Connah
This article argues that the USA and its Western allies have
misused ‘Just War’ narratives to legitimise an external intervention
in Afghanistan and their use of force during the War on Terror. It
explores the extent to which such external interventions, military
strategies, narratives and justifications by the USA may have
contributed to state failure in Afghanistan. As the legitimacy of
earlier external interventions is called into question, while the ...Read more > | 17 Pages 480.98 KB |
|
 | WRITING OFF AFGHANISTAN: DOES BIDEN HAVE A CHOICE? By Center for Strategic and International Studies
The United States has now spent nearly a year reducing its military, diplomatic, and aid
presence in Afghanistan. It has never made the full scale of these reductions public, but it
has talked about reducing its military presence to 2,500 military personnel by January
2021 and about closing many military facilities. UN and other reporting have also
reflected a steady decline in aid ...Read more > | 6 Pages 138.34 KB |
|
|
 | A BRI(DGE) TOO FAR: THE UNFULFILLED PROMISE AND LIMITATIONS OF CHINA'S INVOLVEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN By VANDA FELBAB-BROWN
China’s focus on and presence in Afghanistan has
grown significantly over the past decade. However,
the original emphasis on economic relations has been
eclipsed by China’s security agenda in Afghanistan, as
China seeks to ensure that anti-Chinese militancy does
not leak out from Afghanistan and that Uighur militants
do not receive support from the Taliban. While China
does seek a stable Afghanistan and would prefer a
government not dominated by the Taliban, it has made
its peace ...Read more > | 18 Pages 711.25 KB |
|
 | AFGHANISTAN SECURITY SITUATION By European Asylum Support Office
This report was co-drafted by EASO Country of Origin Information (COI) sector and specialists from the
COI units and asylum offices listed in the Acknowledgements section.
The report aims to provide information on the security situation in Afghanistan, which is relevant for
the assessment of international protection status determination, including refugee status and
subsidiary protection, and in particular for use in EASO’s country guidance development on
Afghanistan. The terms of ...Read more > | 449 Pages 14.22 MB |
|
 | AFGHANISTAN: THE PROSPECTS FOR A REAL PEACE By Anthony H. Cordesman
Afghanistan is sometimes referred to as the "graveyard of empites." In pratice, it has been the "graveyard of Afghans"- a nation where outside powers have always found it more costly to remain in Afghanistan than their presence there was worth. Ressia - like so many of Afghanistan s past conquerors - has survived and has prospered from leaving. The United States might also follow suit, as it has mever faced a serious strain from its role in Afghanistan and can ...Read more > | 174 Pages 5.37 MB |
|
 | AFGHANISTAN STUDY GROUP FINAL REPORT: A PATHWAY FOR PEACE IN AFGHANISTAN By Afghanistan Study Group
Afghanistan’s long conflict has entered a new and potentially final phase: a real opportunity to reach a peaceful
resolution exists, but the forces of fragmentation remain
strong. The United States can play a key role in determining if this opportunity is taken. A responsible and coherent
set of U.S. actions could greatly increase the chances of a
peaceful resolution to forty years of conflict a rash and
rushed approach could increase the chances of a breakdown of order in Afghanistan ...Read more > | 88 Pages 3.14 MB |
|
|