Post-NATO Withdrawal
Javid Ahmad and Louise Langeby
Friday, February 3, 2012
Whipsawed by a long-drawn U.S.-led military
operation and a decade of erratic international economic assistance,
Afghanistan is in shambles. With
economic development always considered secondary to security concerns, little
has been done in the past decade to establish a sustainable Afghan economy.
While the international community has tried to generate a steady flow of aid,
the Afghan government is still unable to cater to the population's basic needs.
Moreover, the little economy we have
seen evolve in Afghanistan since 2001 is predominantly based on the
international security presence. The bulk
of Afghanistan's gross domestic product (GDP) stems from international aid, and
the impending 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of international combat troops
will be accompanied by a parallel reduction in aid money. Thus, as the tide of
war recedes, a large chunk of the economy will also disappear, posing an
increasing threat to stability. The country's current economic trajectory
beyond 2014 is fraught with corruption and uncertainty. However, despite the dire situation,
Afghanistan's economic transition has received only minor policy attention,
with the focus remaining on the ongoing security transition. Thus the question
remains: How will Afghanistan sustain its economy beyond 2014?
Read More »
Transition in Afghanistan
Roger D. Carstens
Thursday, February 2, 2012
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta stated
that the United States would take a step back from its combat role in
Afghanistan by mid-2013. Newspapers and
news shows alike are reporting that this is a major milestone towards ending
our decade long war in this troubled country.
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Rule of Law
Nick Grono
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Afghanistan
is ruled not by law, but by power and patronage. The absence
of the rule of law fuels the
country's savage insurgency.
When citizens can't rely on the state to protect them against systemic abuses,
then rebellion becomes a far more attractive option. Tragically, in Afghanistan
the abusers, more often than not, are from the government itself - including
ministers, governors, police chiefs and militia leaders.
Read More »
The Shelf
Lisa Curtis
Monday, January 30, 2012
The title of Ken
Ballen's recently released book, Terrorists
in Love: The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals, is misleading. I put off
buying it for some time because of the title, which implied it would provide a
sympathetic view of terrorism and constitute yet another rant against "failed" U.S.
counterterrorism policies since 9/11.
Read More »
An Interview with Imran Khan
Kiran Nazish
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Cricketer-turned-politician
Imran Khan is batting to strike out two major
"conventional" political parties -- the leftist Pakistan People's Party and the
conservative Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz -- simultaneously. He talks about
eradicating corruption, handling the grievances of the Baloch and the tribal
areas, "friendliness" as the ultimate foreign policy, and his plans to combat
four of Pakistan's biggest "emergencies" in 90 days, should his party, Tehreek-e Insaf, win Pakistan's general
elections planned for 2013.
Read More »
Afghanistan's Democracy
Jed Ober
Monday, January 30, 2012
In
his recent address inaugurating the 16th session of Afghanistan's
National Assembly, President Hamid Karzai rejected claims from some in
the international community that constitutional change is necessary in
Afghanistan and accused foreigners of treating
Afghanistan like a "political lab." "Let me expressly and resolutely stress
that we will never allow the perilous dream of trying another political experiment
to turn into reality," asserted President Karzai. Mr. Karzai's position is unsurprising,
considering the astonishing amount of authority the current constitution bestows
on him. Paradoxically, this authority was originally granted to him partially
with the support of the international community. Unless concerted steps are
taken to raise awareness of the need for reform, Afghanistan's democratic
development will continue to be stymied by the constitutionally-condoned
actions of its modern-day monarch.
Read More »
POST
Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Afghanistan policy, like Vietnam policy before it, has taken on a life of its own, impervious to ground truth. The simple reality is that "peace talks" with the Taliban have no chance whatever of a positive outcome from the perspective of U.S. policy. Just as it did in Vietnam, the United States has been fighting the wrong war in Afghanistan with the wrong strategy from the very beginning.
Read More »
Helping Afghanistan's Women
Lael A. Mohib
Friday, January 13, 2012
Audiences around the world were horrified to see the image of Bibi Aisha, a young Afghan girl whose nose had been cut off by her husband and his family, on the cover of an August 2010 issue of TIME Magazine. Western media outlets largely attributed Aisha's case to the Taliban, and portrayed it as a warning ofwhat is to come for Afghan women once the international community withdraws from Afghanistan. The unfortunate reality is, though, that there are many other cases like hers happening today in Afghanistan, despite the presence and efforts of foreign troops and the international community over the last decade. The most recent case to make headlines was that of 15-year-old Sahar Gul, who had been locked in a basement and tortured for five months by her in-laws, allegedly because she refused efforts to force her into prostitution. These crimes were not perpetrated by the Taliban, but instead some of the most extreme manifestations of domestic violence in Afghanistan.
As former Taliban Minister of Foreign Affairs Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil said to me in an interview a year ago when I asked what he thought about the case of Bibi Aisha: "Even when the West are in Afghanistan, these things are still happening. It seems to me to be a family matter, what happened to this woman."In Afghanistan, everything is a family matter, and familial ties will continueto govern Afghan society long after international troops have left the scene. While attention is focused in Kabul on signing documents ensuring women's political participation and securing women's rights, there is very little trickle down from such progress to the majority of Afghan women living in rural areas. Instead of working from the top down, sustainable progress that can take root in conservative Afghan households can only be made by accepting the realities of rural Afghan society and working within existing cultural boundaries. Read More »
Musharraf's Machinations
Michael Kugelman
Thursday, January 12, 2012
For a fallen figure -- one reduced to self-imposed exile in Dubai and London, and dismissed by many as apolitical has-been -- Pervez Musharraf sure is hogging an impressive share of the spotlight.
In late 2010, after announcing (from London) the formation of his new political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML), and revealing his intention to return to Pakistan to contest the 2013 elections, the former president and army chief hit the lecture circuit. In Washington, he spoke to beyond-capacity and often supportive crowds. Watching him glad hand and back slap people outside the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington last July, after having delivered an address to hundreds of people, I was struck by his resemblance to a U.S. political candidate. Read More »
Sectarian strife
Hassan Abbas
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The idea of defiance against tyranny andoppression owes a great deal to Hussain ibne Ali, the hero of the battle ofKarbala in 680 AD. With just 72 valiant followers and family members, thegrandson of Prophet Mohammad faced the military might of the Muslim empire ruledthen by a despot, Yazid bin Mu‘awiya. Hussainrefused to sanctify Yazid's reign through baya'a(allegiance) and consequently, he and his small contingent were martyred in themost brutal of fashions. The accompanying women and children were imprisoned formonths in the dark alleys of Damascus. Read More »
Afghan Health Gaining Strength
Dr. Suraya Dalil
Friday, December 9, 2011
Ten years ago, Afghanistan had one of the world's worsthealth care systems. Most trained health professionals had left the country,and there were few functioning medical facilities. The Taliban had effectivelybanned women from receiving health care. As a result, an estimated one in fourchildren died under the age of five, and maternal mortality was estimated to bethe highest in the world - data collected at that time suggests one in tenwomen died of pregnancy-related complications. Life expectancy was a meager 45 years,according to the United Nations. Afghans were dying from simple, preventableillnesses -- such as diarrhea and bronchitis -- that literally cost pennies to treat. Read More »
Carving out a Future for Afghanistan
Esha Chhabra
Friday, December 9, 2011
We often see thearts as only fit for museums, galleries, and film festivals, cloistered inhalls only for the intellectual elite. But the arts can help build anation, or in the case of Afghanistan, are rebuilding a nation, employing itspeople, and recalling a history forgotten in recent decades of continuousconflict. And a small group of social scientists, architects, and entrepreneursare using culture as a vehicle to restore Afghanistan, challenging theconvention that the arts are only for aesthetics. Read More »
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A primer on the epicenter of global terrorism.
