The United States will soon enter the 18th year of combat operations in Afghanistan. During that time, multiple approaches to stabilize the country have been tried, including support to regional security initiatives, "nation-building," counterinsurgency, counternarcotics, counterterrorism, and "train and equip." The constellation of anti-government elements known collectively as the Taliban continues to refuse reconciliation or a negotiated peace under the existing Afghan constitution. ; https://press.armywarcollege.edu/monographs/1372/thumbnail.jpg
Der Afghanistan-Krieg führt, so die Ausführungen des Autors, nicht allein zu beträchtlichem menschlichen Leiden, materiellen Zerstörungen und politischer Instabilität in Afghanistan selbst, sondern auch zur Schwächung Pakistans, zu zahlreichen Gewaltopfern und wachsender Instabilität. Heute sterben bereits mehr Menschen in Pakistan an politischer Gewalt und Kriegseinwirkung als in Afghanistan. Die Ansteckung Pakistans mit der politischen Gewalt erfolgt allerdings nicht primär durch den Krieg in Afghanistan als solchen, sondern sowohl historisch als auch aktuell durch die ausländische Rolle in diesem Krieg, zuerst durch die Sowjetunion, die USA und einige arabische Staaten (vor allem Saudi Arabiens), heute durch die der USA und NATO-Verbündeten. Die ausländischen Truppen stellen dabei den wichtigsten Mobilisierungsfaktor dar. Eine Diskussion der westlichen Politik in Afghanistan wäre gut beraten, diese Wirkung im strategisch viel bedeutenderen Nachbarland einzubeziehen. Eine weitere Destabilisierung der fragilen Atommacht Pakistan in Kauf zu nehmen, um dem taktischen Ziel einer ohnehin kaum möglichen Abriegelung der Grenze zu Afghanistan näherzukommen, wäre ein strategischer Fehler mit unabsehbaren Folgen – der schließlich mit aller Macht auf den Krieg in Afghanistan zurückschlagen müsste.
Im Verlauf des internationalen Afghanistaneinsatzes wurde schnell erkennbar, dass die Staatengemeinschaft und Deutschland ihre Ziele in Afghanistan nicht verwirklichen konnten. Dieser Arbeit zeigt, erstens woran dies lag und zweitens welchen Anteil Deutschland daran hatte. Die Ergebnisse ermöglichen schließlich drittens eine Einordnung und Bewertung des deutsche Afghanistan-Engagements mit Blick auf Deutschlands außen- und sicherheitspolitische Gesamtinteressen. Der Autor kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass das strategische Versagen Deutschlands in Afghanistan auf der gesamtstrategischen Ebene begründet liegt: Denn Deutschland verfügt nicht über die benötigten gesamtstrategischen Konzepte (Nationale Sicherheitsstrategie, Statebuildingstrategien), Strukturen (Nationaler Sicherheitsrat, zivil-militärische Einheiten) und Mittel (Kampftruppen, Polizeiausbilder etc.), um bei multilateralen Einsätzen wie in Afghanistan strategisch kohärent handeln zu können.
In Central and South Asia 'the terrorist threat emanating from Afghanistan is perceived to be growing, with foreign fighters who have returned from the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq increasing their numbers in Afghanistan'. SADF has dedicated a great deal of research papers to the challenges facing Afghanistan, for instance its Policy Brief nº2 titled 'Combatting Jihadism in Afghanistan'. The present Working Paper nº14 builds on said SADF Policy Brief nº2 by reiterating the importance of confronting jihadism beyond the prism of security measures and the futility of engaging in peace talks with the Taliban. Reconstruction and state building in Afghanistan are emphasised as a realistic alternative to the present peace talks with the Taliban.
Cosmopolitan Narratives: Documentary Perspectives on Afghanistan Cosmopolitanism is a concept discussed in relation to globalization in contemporary societies by sociologists, anthropologists and media scholars (Beck 2006, Delanty 2006, Appadurai 1996). The concept indicates the dialectic between universal dimensions of human life and cultural differences in a more and more mediatized global media culture. How do individuals and groups imagine each other in this new, global media culture, in what Appadurai (1996) has called a new post-national political world with an emerging diasporic public sphere? Belonging to a nation, a culture is of course still a very central thing. We still experience the world from where we are, we view others through a lens of imaginary (Anderson 1983) and real belonging somewhere. The distant 'other' can still for many be rather distant, and certainly more distant than those close others in our everyday life. But the media play an increasingly strong and important role in developing a cosmopolitan imaginary through narratives that bring us closer to the various distant, global others. Through migration those earlier distant others are also more and more mixed in our daily lives and more cosmopolitan and multicultural societies (Bondebjerg 2014). News play a role here, but more important are documentary film and television, because such narratives of reality can unfold global aspects of everyday life and social realities in a much stronger way. In this paper I develop the concept of global narratives in documentary in a sociological and cultural theoretical sense. Following that I look at how life in Afghanistan has been described both by documentary filmmakers with a European background (for instance Havana Markings Afghan Star and Phil Grabsky in The Boy Mir) and filmmakers with a background in Afghanistan (for instance Nagieb Khaja My Afghanistan).
Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird als Beispiel für eine internationale Hochschulkooperation das von der Europäischen Union (EU) finanzierte Master of Arts Programme (MAP) in "Educational Research and Development", einen internationalen erziehungswissenschaftlichen Masterstudiengang in Afghanistan, vorgestellt. Ferner werden einige der Erfahrungen im Hinblick auf Umsetzung und Ertrag dieses Programms reflektiert. Das Projekt erstreckte sich insgesamt über einen Zeitraum von mehr als vier Jahren, gerechnet von der Antragstellung (Herbst 2006) bis zum Endbericht an die EU (April 2011); die Finanzierung durch die EU erfolgte von 2008 bis 2011. (DIPF/Orig.) ; This article introduces the Master of Arts Programme (MAP) "Educational Research and Development" in Afghanista, an educational Master degree programme fi nanced by the European Union (EU) as an example of international cooperation in Higher Education and reflects some of the experiences in terms of its realisation and results. The project covers a period of more than four years altogether – from the application to the EU (autumn 2006) till the final report to EU (April 2011); the financing of the project ran from 2008 till 2011. (DIPF/Orig.)
The family law on its development gets government and scholar attention in the Islamic world, included in Afghanistan. It is interesting to investigate given has been enacted the marriage law, Qanun-i Izdiwaj in 1971 in Afghanistan based on the Egyptian Family Law in 1929 and fully enforce the Maliki's law on the women rights to file divorce in the court. In addition, the provisions of this law amended the practices prevailing locally related to marriage and divorce. Although in some cases are still bound to the Hanafi school fiqh, the family law in Afghanistan has undergone reformation in line with the modern world development. The reformation system of its family law leads to extra doctrinal reform, by way of giving new interpretation, which sometimes differ from the provisions of Hanafi's school followed by majority of its population. The reformation material of family law undertaken in Afghanistan, is the dowry, child marriage, polygamy and divorce. Keywords: reformation, family law, Afghanistan
The aim of this chapter is to explore how it was that Australia came to approach Afghanistan as it did. It is divided into sic sections. The first offers some historical background to Australia's involvement in Afghanistan after 2001, noting that the points of connection between the two countries were somewhat more extensive than has often been credited. The second examines a range of factors that helped shape the way in which Australia engaged with Afghanistan in both the initial phases of Operation Enduring Freedom, and from 2005 as part of the deployment of the UN-authorised International Sedcurity Assistance Force (ISAF). The third looks in more detail at some of the specific military activities Australian troops pursued in the province of Uruzgan, while the fourth assessed the main activities in the speheres of aid and development in which Australia became involved. The fifth briefly discusses Australia's diplomatic activities with respect to Afghanistan. The sixth concludes the discussion by outlining some of the challenges that Australia may face in the coming years as a result of its Afghanistan deployment.
The aim of this chapter is to explore how it was that Australia came to approach Afghanistan as it did. It is divided into sic sections. The first offers some historical background to Australia's involvement in Afghanistan after 2001, noting that the points of connection between the two countries were somewhat more extensive than has often been credited. The second examines a range of factors that helped shape the way in which Australia engaged with Afghanistan in both the initial phases of Operation Enduring Freedom, and from 2005 as part of the deployment of the UN-authorised International Sedcurity Assistance Force (ISAF). The third looks in more detail at some of the specific military activities Australian troops pursued in the province of Uruzgan, while the fourth assessed the main activities in the speheres of aid and development in which Australia became involved. The fifth briefly discusses Australia's diplomatic activities with respect to Afghanistan. The sixth concludes the discussion by outlining some of the challenges that Australia may face in the coming years as a result of its Afghanistan deployment.
Indien macht sich Sorgen, ob seine betont nichtmilitärische Politik in Afghanistan nach Abzug der ISAF-Truppen Früchte trägt. Als einer der größten Entwicklungshilfegeber hat Indien nach Vertreibung der Taliban 2001 mehr als zwei Mrd. US-Dollar in das Land gepumpt und der Nachfrage nach militärischer Hilfe bislang erfolgreich getrotzt. Unter Umgehung des einflussreichen Grenzlandes Pakistan will Indien von den Bodenschätzen Afghanistans, seiner strategischen Lage und seinem Wirtschafts- und Handelspotenzial profitieren. Die Angst vor der Rückkehr der Taliban sitzt jedoch tief und die eigene Verwundbarkeit ist groß, wie die Bombenangriffe 2008 und 2009 auf indische Botschaften in Afghanistan zeigten. Langfristig wird Indien seine Interessen in diesem Raum nur über einen multilateralen Ansatz sichern können.
Abstract: This report focuses on the lives and vulnerabilities of those affected by the crisis and on the attempts by local and international agencies to mitigate these vulnerabilities within the fraught and volatile Afghan context. It presents an analysis of the humanitarian situation on the ground and of the challenges and constraints faced by the humanitarian community in a fast-moving environment. Its conclusions point to urgent changes required to improve the response to a severe and deepening humanitarian crisis and to protect humanitarian agencies, to the extent possible, from overt politicization and manipulation.
This article suggests a framework for analysing pastoral mobility in Afghanistan that takes into account the manifold changes and violent upheavals that have affected the country and its people over the past 40 years. It is argued that reconciling the empirical thoroughness and developmental perspective of research on pastoral mobility with the conceptual and analytical power of work on new mobilities offers a promising way forward. An attempt is made to analyse pastoral mobility in Afghanistan by focusing on the territorial scope of movement, the meanings attached to those movements, and the social, economic and political connotations of pastoral mobility. The analytical framework consists of three broad elements that are historically grounded and suitable for addressing change. In conceptual terms, it sees mobility as territoriality, mobility as social and economic relations and mobility as identity. The argument is based on empirical fieldwork with Pashtun pastoral groups from the Kunduz oasis in northern Afghanistan.
Why has the US so dramatically failed in Afghanistan since 2001? Dominant explanations have ignored the bureaucratic divisions and personality conflicts inside the US state. This book rectifies this weakness in commentary on Afghanistan by exploring the significant role of these divisions in the US’s difficulties in the country that meant the battle was virtually lost before it even began. The main objective of the book is to deepen readers’ understanding of the impact of bureaucratic politics on nation-building in Afghanistan, focusing primarily on the Bush administration. It rejects the ‘rational actor’ model, according to which the US functions as a coherent, monolithic agent. Instead, internal divisions within the foreign policy bureaucracy are explored, to build up a picture of the internal tensions and contradictions that bedevilled US nation-building efforts. The book also contributes to the vexed issue of whether or not the US should engage in nation-building at all, and if so under what conditions.
Why has the U.S. so dramatically failed in Afghanistan since 2001? Dominant explanations have ignored the bureaucratic divisions and personality conflicts inside the U.S. state. This book rectifies this weakness in commentary on Afghanistan by exploring the significant role of these divisions in the U.S.'s difficulties in the country that meant the battle was virtually lost before it even began. The main objective of the book is to deepen readers' understanding of the impact of bureaucratic politics on nation-building in Afghanistan, focusing primarily on the Bush administration. It rejects the 'rational actor' model, according to which the U.S. functions as a coherent, monolithic agent. Instead, internal divisions within the foreign policy bureaucracy are explored, to build up a picture of the internal tensions and contradictions that bedevilled U.S. nation-building efforts. The book also contributes to the vexed issue of whether or not the U.S. should engage in nation-building at all, and if so under what conditions.
Why has the US so dramatically failed in Afghanistan since 2001? Dominant explanations have ignored the bureaucratic divisions and personality conflicts inside the US state. This book rectifies this weakness in commentary on Afghanistan by exploring the significant role of these divisions in the US's difficulties in the country that meant the battle was virtually lost before it even began. The main objective of the book is to deepen readers' understanding of the impact of bureaucratic politics on nation-building in Afghanistan, focusing primarily on theBush administration. It rejects the "rational actor" model, according to which theUS functions as a coherent, monolithic agent. Instead, internal divisions within the foreign policy bureaucracy are explored, to build up a picture of the internal tensions and contradictions that bedevilled US nation-building efforts. The book also contributes to the vexed issue of whether or not the US should engage in nation-building at all, and if so under what conditions.
