Afghanistan

“Warlords, Strongman Governors, and the State in Afghanistan” was written by Dipali Mukhopadhyay, Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and explores how some of the warlords in Afghanistan turned into political representatives of the central government after 2001. Though warlords are often considered as threats to the stability of a country, the central government of Kabul engaged some of them to establish a strong administration beyond the capital of Kabul and manage the periphery.

Global terrorism continues to be a multifaceted security threat that decisively shapes the policies of political actors worldwide. An important component of contemporary terrorism is the financing mechanisms connected to the activities of terrorist organizations (TOs): TOs have proven apt in diversifying their funding sources and now rely on activities as broad as involvement in organized crime, illicit resource extraction as well as transnational trade in drugs and people. Following the innovation and popularization of modern communication technologies, TOs have also increasingly capitalized on the internet as a space through which to finance their operations, disseminate their propaganda and recruit new members. The financing mechanisms of TOs are subsequently in a process of consistent evolution and are shaped by external factors, thereby producing consistent challenges for State actors to develop their counterterrorist capacities in accordance with the newest trends in terrorist activities.

ПАМЯТЬ ИЗ ПЛАМЕНИ
АФГАНИСТАНА
Интервью с воинами-интернационалистами
Афганской войны 1979–1989 годов.Данная книга является продолжением проекта «Афганская война 1979–1989 гг. глазами
очевидцев (Oral history)», реализованного международной группой исследователей из США,
Казахстана, Таджикистана и Узбекистана. Методология разработана руководителями проекта
Марлен Ларюэль, Ph.D (США-Франция) и Ботагоз Ракишевой, кандидатом социологических
наук (Казахстан). Основной задачей проекта был сбор информации об афганской войне у её
непосредственных участников для сохранения исторической памяти. Данная книга включает
сбор интервью методом «устная история» у воинов-интернационалистов, участников
войны в Афганистане. В Кыргызстане было проведено 21 интервью. Интервью в книге
даны в первозданном виде. В книге использованы фотографии и документы из частных
архивов воинов-интернационалистов. Организована выставка «Человек на войне» и снят
документальный фильм.
Авторы благодарят Институт «Открытое Общество», OSI (Open Society Foundation) за
возможность публикации книги.
Издание предназначено для широкого круга читателей.
В Казахстане проект был проведен Исследовательским институтом «Общественное
мнение» (Астана, Казахстан) и включал сбор интервью методом «Устная история» у воиновинтернационалистов, участников войны в Афганистане и подготовки документального
фильма. Всего было проведено 20 интервью в Узбекистане, 31 интервью в Таджикистане, 21
интервью в Казахстане.

Afghanistan is a state party of International Criminal court and obliged to investigate and prosecute allegations of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in the country. This article looks into war crimes in Afghanistan, ability and willingness of Afghanistan government, role of international community and NGOs to address the past and present war crime. In this context, NGOs can exploit the threat of ICC investigations and assist the accountability process in many ways. This paper argues that, due to inability and unwilling of Afghanistan government, NGOs can play an important role in furthering the aims of ICC in Afghanistan of making the most responsible for the war crimes accountable. Nontheless, this needs better coordination between the local and international civil society to uphold the rule of law, putting an end to cluture of impunity and for stability and peace in Afghanistan.

Vladimiro Giacché, La fabbrica del falso. Strategie della menzogna nella politica contemporanea, 3a ed., Reggio Emilia, Imprimatur, 2016, rist. 2018.

I diritti di pubblicazione appartengono esclusivamente all’autore.
È consentita la riproduzione del testo o di sue parti solo a fini non commerciali.

Indice:
7    Premessa

11  Parte prima. Guerra alla verità:
15  1. Fenomenologia della menzogna
71  2. Menzogna, ideologia, informazione: iluoghi comuni della «guerra al terrore»
101 3. La Democrazia in ostaggio
131 4. La Sicurezza al primo posto
153 5. Mercato: i mille volti di un prestanome
175 6. Totalitarismo: triste storia di un non-concetto
199 7. Dialettica del Terrorismo

229  Parte seconda. La verità del falso:
233 8. Uomini e merci. Cronache dal mondo alla rovescia
261 9. Potere e regressione
291 10. La fabbrica del falso

315  Parte terza. Strategie di resistenza:
321 11. Spiragli
343 12. Dire la verità
365 13. Smascheramenti
385 14. La verità ricordata
405 15. Parliamo di noi

There is insufficient empirical evidence on the correlates of health care utilization of irregular migrants currently living in Turkey. The aim of this study was to identify individual level determinants associated with health service and medication use. One hundred and fifty-five Afghans completed surveys assessing service utilization including encounters with primary care physicians and outpatient specialists in addition to the use of prescription and nonprescription medicines. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were employed to examine associations between service use and a range of predisposing, enabling, and perceived need factors. Health services utilization was lowest for outpatient specialists (20%) and highest for nonprescription medications (37%). Female gender and higher income predicted encounters with primary care physicians. Income, and other enabling factors such as family presence in Turkey predicted encounters with outpatient specialists. Perceived illness-re...

Paper from a presentation at the International Congres in Sofia, Bulagaria about Afghanistan - MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIAG. S. RAKOVSKI NATIONAL DEFENSE ACADEMYCenter of Military History and Lessons LearnedBulgarian Commission of Military HistoryInternational Conference: “Participation of Multinational Stabilization Forces in Afghanistan – a Priority NATO Mission”.

This paper analyses equity in health and healthcare utilization in Afghanistan based on a representative national household survey. Equitable access is a cornerstone of the Afghan health policy. We measured socioeconomic-related equity in access to public health care, using disability--because people with disabilities are poorer and more likely to use health care--and a concentration index (CI) and its decomposition. The socioeconomic-related equity in healthcare utilization was measured using a probit model and compared with an OLS model providing the horizontal inequity index (HI). We found a low rate of healthcare facilities utilization (25%). Disabled persons are using more healthcare facilities and have higher medical expenses. Disability is more frequently associated with older age, unemployed heads of household and lower education. The Cl of disability is 0.0221 indicating a pro-rich distribution of health. This pro-rich effect is higher in small households (CI decreases with...

In this article, an effort has been made to elaborate further on the nature and causes of this combined state terrorism of US and NATO forces, covered up under the more general word “war”, which is more acceptable to the general publics and invokes conditioned conventional patriotic feelings, primarily in the mass unconscious, which then are manifested in the mass consciousness, in various forms; as well as the nature and causes of the success of the Afghan national liberation forces, and of the defeat of imperialist forces, in spite of their incomparable military, technological, and economic superiority.  Such developments involve the dialectical interaction of various contradictions, including those of guerilla and conventional warfares, their development and resolutions. Therefore, some analysis of these has also been included in this article.

There are various types of wars.  On the most basic level, these can be divided into just and unjust wars.  Imperialist, colonial, and neocolonial wars are always unjust wars, while national liberation wars against these are always just wars, Afghanistan national liberation war being one of these.  US and NATO imperialisms were responsible for two unjust wars in that country, that is, the proxy war from 1979 to 1996, which resulted in the rule of Taliban from 1996 to 2001, and then direct invasion and war against that country from 2001 to 2021.  Both these wars were in fact massive imperialist state terrorisms, which caused great devastations in an already impoverished country, killing hundreds of thousands, wounding and maiming millions, causing countless millions to become internally displaced and refugees in other countries, destroying their infrastructures and means of living, and installing subservient puppet governments.

Afghanistan masih belum terlihat akan mencapai stabilitas politik pasca Taliban kembali menguasai hampir seluruh wilayahnya. Bahkan sebenarnya instabilitas politik bukan hanya terjadi sejak Mei dan pertengahan Agustus ini sebagai puncaknya, tetapi selama hampir setengah abad terakhir jika dihitung dari mulainya invasi negara lain terhadap mereka. Beberapa ahli atau pemerhati politik berharap momentum perubahan kekuasaan pemerintahan kepada Taliban menjadi momentum yang tepat untuk melakukan diplomasi internal diantara  mereka sendiri. Tetapi, mungkin saja tidak sama sekali

I wrote this Essay in 2013 for Professor Wayne Cox's 200 level International Relations class at Queen's University. The assignment was to prescribe a solution to NATO's war in Afghanistan using the liberal international relations paradigm. In researching this paper I quickly found that, realistically, there wasn't one. As such some of my recommendations range from difficult to implement to simply unrealistic. I attribute this to being a bright eyed second year student, but also to the limits of the liberal paradigm.

Since writing this essay I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with veterans of the Afghan conflict, both military and civilian. These people have had a deep effect on how I see the world and Afghanistan in particular. While I would not write this essay the same way today, I feel its a good example of my strong analytical skills, problem solving style, and writing ability.

Factors as culture, values, and symbols are crucial to understand the evolution of the Italian foreign and defense policy. However, scholars' attention to such variables in the study of Italian defense policies still leaves many gaps. Since the end of the Cold War, Italian troops have been constantly engaged in military operations abroad spreading a " peacekeeper image " of Italy in the international arena. The goal of this work is to investigate the features and the evolution of the main strategic narratives adopted by political leaders to interpret the Italian military involvement in Afghanistan. How have politicians crafted strategic narratives on the Afghan mission? How have these story lines influenced public opinion during the conflict? Has the disproportionate gap between the storyline, based on the traditional values of peace and multilateralism, and the war-torn reality on the ground, affected the level of public approval? Or have the ways in which narratives were built in 2009 played a more significant role? In order to answer these questions, this paper relies on polls, content analysis of parliamentary debates, and public discourse analysis (2001–2011).

The decade-long military intervention in Afghanistan had a strong effect on the transformation of western armed forces. This article examines one of the pathways of such military change, namely selective emulation. Taken aback by the evolution of the fightings in Afghanistan, France, Germany and the UK looked for doctrinal or technical answers to the challenges they were facing on the ground within NATO (the structure and/or the member states). However, the importation of such solutions depends on each national political-military context, in particular the proximity with the United States, the existence of a strong local defense industry or a specific strategic culture. After the “Europeanisation without the EU” of the French defence policy in the 90’s identified by Bastien Irondelle, we now observe a “NATO-isation with NATO” of the three major European military powers’ defence policies, because of the Afghan campaign.

On March 2014, in an Islamic-State-sponsored prisoner swap, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, the al-Qaeda operative jailed in Syria in 2001, was freed in exchange for Syrian army officers held by the IS.

News articles that covered the prisoner exchange did not bother to explain why the IS would go to such trouble to gain his release. However, analysts familiar with the history of Islamist movements knew why...

Beginning with the Communist Saur Revolution of 1978 and continuing through Gen. David Petraeus’s 2010 appointment replacing Stanley McChrystal as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, this book is an inside account of one of the most vicious conflicts fought between the two Cold War superpowers: the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–89). Analyzing the behind-the-scenes decisions made in Moscow, Washington, and Kabul, former BBC correspondent Deepak Tripathi shows how that conflict transformed Afghanistan into a sanctuary for terrorism.

Explaining how Afghanistan descended into a civil war from which the Taliban emerged, Tripathi explores the ways in which the country ultimately became a grotesque mirror image of the anticommunist alliance of U.S. forces and radical Islamists in the Cold War’s final phase. Calling for a departure from the current pursuit of military strong-arm tactics, he advocates an approach that is centered on development, internal reconciliation, and societal reconstruction in Afghanistan.

There are three aspects that are symbolic of the state of affairs in and around Afghanistan in 2018, namely, the fragmentation of domestic political actors, the increasing desecuritization of rhetoric with respect to Afghanistan by neighbouring countries and the diversification of Afghanistan’s global partners. While the US strategy showed the signs of stalling in the conditions of increasing violence and fragmentation of local actors, there are changes in the attitude of neighbouring states in effort to turn Afghanistan into the new economic “frontier”. At the same time, 2018 also demonstrated increasing activity of Russia and China in Afghanistan signifying diversifying global partnerships for Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is gateway to central asia, middle east, and South asia. it has great strategic importance Many nations tried to make their hegemony over Afghanistan. It is also called grave yard of Empires. Afghanistan is the only country who opposes the recognition of Pakistan in United nation. Pakistan and Afghanistan both have similar cultural, religious traditional relations. It is the common sayings that you can change the friends but you can’t change your neighbor. Pakistan has the long border Durand line containing 2560 km. both countries shares common cultural, religious, historical lingual and racial. waht are the Pakistan's intersts? why Pakistan is so interested in afghanistan?

Afghan women’s life expectancy increased, mortality during child decreased, and participation in social and political activities increased during the 20 year-long War on Terror as the rights of women were provided for during this time. However, despite the encouraging statistics, the idea that women are inferior and should not have the right to freedom remained within the country. Dr. Sanchita Bhattacharya, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management, India points out that despite the absence of the Taliban, Afghan women still suffered due to male members of their family or tribe. Before the Taliban disbanded, violence against women was legalized in the country under the justification of preserving religion and the Taliban way of life. With the "come back” of the Taliban, the author states that violence against women will be normalized and it will be difficult to measure the degree of exploitation and harassment.

This paper evaluates the Language Policy and Planning's (LPP) Methodological Rich Points (MRP) in the geographic, ethnic and linguistic composition of Afghanistan. The theoretical construct is taken from the work of Nancy H. Hornberger on MRP in LPP. The paper explores a range of primary and secondary sources, and finds that the presence of inequality, marginalization and oppression in intra-ethnic and intralanguage group relations, sharing of resources and power account for neglect of the MRP in Afghan LPP. The geographic details in conjunction with explanation of historical process of migrations and conquests explains that most of the minority language speakers are concentrated in the difficult to reach areas of Afghanistan for their safety. Further, the limiting factors of Afghan geography explains the preservation of minority languages from the effects of majority languages. The study concludes with the proposal that it would be helpful to avoid the pitfalls of the current L...

A presença da OTAN no Afeganistão representa o primeiro caso de envolvimento uma organização internacional numa contra-subversão, algo que até agora pertenceu ao domínio exclusivo dos Estados. A participação da OTAN neste tipo de conflitos, assim como a organização da resposta contra-subversiva requerem uma profunda reflexão, dadas as novas questões que levantam e às quais urge encontrar respostas. O envolvimento inicial da OTAN no Afeganistão, em 2003, foi concebido como uma operação de estabilização. Apesar da intervenção internacional no Norte do país, à presente data, ainda se assemelhar a uma operação de estabilização, no Sul verificaram-s e d e s e n v o l v i m e n t o s q u a l i t a t i v os significantes. A partir de 5 de Outubro de 2006, quando a OTAN oficialmente finalizou o alargamento da sua acção a todo o território do Afeganistão, passando a incluir o Sul e o Leste na sua área de responsabilidade, a Aliança viu-se envolvida numa contra-subversão.

The most disappointing part of Robert M Gates memoirs are pages dealing with US Afghan War.General Mc Kiernan who Gates sacked as he was not good at sucking with Gates or pen pushers and bureaucrats like Michele Flournoy receives the most evasive treatment in Gates thick but meatless memoirs !As a matter of fact Mc Kiernan appeared as the most effective potential actor in the sordid Afghan drama destroyed by inexperienced chefs like Reidel ,Flournoy , Gates,Mc Chrystal and Petraeus.Mc Kiernan as Gates discussed in his memoirs saw the real issue with destroying insurgent safe havens in Pakistan (page-217).Gates gave this no serious thoughts in his lengthy but barren memoirs.I committed the grave  folly of buying this book and was disgusted at its lack of depth and substance when I finished it today on 23 May 2016.On page 211 Gates claims that 82nd Airborne division had done a great job in 2007 .This is debatable as 2007 saw hardly any fighting with total US casualties as low as 15 in the region held by 82nd Airborne .This was not the entire part of the story.Many US casualties in this region occurred due to the most idiotically and stupidly sited suicidal US post known as Shkin.Gates treatment about why US lives were wasted in barren wastes like Helmands are evasive and ambigious and an insult to the memory of 800 or so US lives pointlessly lost in Helmand.On page 340 Gates offers a lame duck excuse that Marines were sent to be sacrificed for no strategic purpose in Helmand as Marine general Conway wanted them deployed as a marine only show ! This is hilarious as well as ridiculous.Helmand as I worked there on USAID projects in 2004-5 contained nothing strategic except sand and drugs and morphia paste labs and there was nothing strategic in Helmand.Why Gates allowed US lives to be sacrificied for no strategic purpose will always remain an inexcusable blot on Gates shoulders as well as Mc Chrystal and Bruce Reidels shoulders .Helmand was never occupied in force by Soviets as it had no strategic significance.Why Mc Chrystal decided to sacrifice US lives there and why Gates allowed this to happen will always be a hard question to answer in US military history.As I anxiously read Gates memoirs I found no answers and was deeply disappointed with Gates lack of intellectual honesty.Gates does lamely acknowledge that it was his biggest mistake but fails to note the fact that some plus 700 US lives were lost due to Gates mistake .The greatest culprit in this exercise was US president Obama who thoughtlessly and lamely accepted the strategy of one Bruce Reidel who had never set a squadron in the field nor knew the division of battle in Afghanistan more than a spinster !Thus Gates on page-343 describes this super charge of the US Marine heavy brigade in Helmand and East Afghanistan as “ 17,000 soldiers he (Obama) already had approved would take the fight to the Taliban in the south and east ……†.Gates lamely acknowledges Pakistani duplicity about Taliban but fails throughout his book to explain what Gates did in tangible precise terms using tools of war and state craft to arm twist and discipline the Pakistanis all through his long five year long tenure as Secretary of Defence while he enjoyed power and munched KFC meals ! Apart from lacking a powerful pen Gates stands out as a man with a bad appetite and an inclination to like KFC junk meals !On page 344 Gates claims that generals like Mc Chrystal were great tactical innovators but fails to furnish a single proof of what great laurels were achieved precisely by Mc Chrystal in Afghanistan ?On page 345 Gates still remains unable to decide why he fired Mc Kiernan other than citing Michele Flournoy who was hardly a qualified judge to rate Mc Kiernan with only years of apple polishing and pedantry as a DOD civilian bureaucrat !Naturally Gates could not admit that Mc Kiernan was not good at sucking !