THE OVERVIEW OF TRADITIONAL JIRGA IN AFGHANISTAN
THE OVERVIEW OF TRADITIONAL JIRGA IN AFGHANISTAN

Author: Dr. Homayun Ahmadi

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2012-04-20

Total Pages: 51

ISBN-13: 1469186772

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The war in Afghanistan will only end through a political settlement rather than a military victory. But that still remains a long way off. There is a need for preliminary talks with the opposition to seek a political solution to the Afghan war. The only way the opposition will come to the table is when they reach the conclusion that they cannot win militarily. The approach used in this book is to raise important questions about the Loya Jirga system used in Afghanistan. A concise and simple answer is then provided for each question to help the reader to understand this system, its current effect on Afghanistan and what a new future in Afghanistan could look like. Importantly, I also address questions about the kinds of strategies required for this vision to be realised. NATO for a number of years has been a strong supporter of the notion that the mission in Afghanistan cannot be won by military means or by combat means alone. There also needs to be a political strategy . I am strongly supporter of these reconciliation, reintegration and rapprochement efforts and we are seeing very early signs of some progress. My hope is that this book will help more people to have a shared vision with me for a peaceful, just and prosperous Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance
Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13: 1437927416

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In the context of a review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan during September-November 2009, the performance and legitimacy of the Afghan government figured prominently. In his December 1, 2009, speech announcing a way forward in Afghanistan, President Obama stated that the Afghan government would be judged on performance, and "The days of providing a blank check are over." The policy statement was based, in part, on an assessment of the security situation furnished by the top commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, which warned of potential mission failure unless a fully resourced classic counterinsurgency strategy is employed. That counterinsurgency effort is deemed to require a legitimate Afghan partner. The Afghan government's limited writ and widespread official corruption are believed by U.S. officials to be helping sustain a Taliban insurgency and complicating international efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. At the same time, President Hamid Karzai has, through compromise with faction leaders, been able to confine ethnic disputes to political competition, enabling his government to focus on trying to win over those members of the ethnic Pashtun community that support Taliban and other insurgents.

Blood Washing Blood
Blood Washing Blood

Author: Phil Halton

Publisher: Dundurn

Published: 2021-04-27

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 145974666X

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A clear-eyed view of the conflict in Afghanistan and its century-deep roots. The war in Afghanistan has consumed vast amounts of blood and treasure, causing the Western powers to seek an exit without achieving victory. Seemingly never-ending, the conflict has become synonymous with a number of issues — global jihad, rampant tribalism, and the narcotics trade — but even though they are cited as the causes of the conflict, they are in fact symptoms. Rather than beginning after 9/11 or with the Soviet “invasion” in 1979, the current conflict in Afghanistan began with the social reforms imposed by Amanullah Amir in 1919. Western powers have failed to recognize that legitimate grievances are driving the local population to turn to insurgency in Afghanistan. The issues they are willing to fight for have deep roots, forming a hundred-year-long social conflict over questions of secularism, modernity, and centralized power. The first step toward achieving a “solution” to the Afghanistan “problem” is to have a clear-eyed view of what is really driving it.

Pashtun Traditions versus Western Perceptions
Pashtun Traditions versus Western Perceptions

Author: Leo Karrer

Publisher: Graduate Institute Publications

Published: 2012-12-04

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13: 2940503117

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Cross-cultural interactions take place every day in contemporary Afghanistan between locals and the thousands of foreigners working in the country as diplomats, officials from international organisations and humanitarian aid workers. As their work requires them to interact with Afghans in manifold ways, all foreigners are, at least indirectly, required to negotiate. Karrer’s ePaper sheds light on the cross-cultural issues likely to contribute to the difficulties encountered by the international community in negotiating with Afghans, as well as for Afghans negotiating with foreigners. Through an analysis of academic literature, Karrer broadly outlines selected elements of Pashtun, in contrast to Western, negotiation culture, discusses the extent to which this negotiation culture may be attributed to Pashtun tradition, and attempts to highlight the complexity of Afghan negotiation behaviour against the binary indexing predominant in the preconceived cluster of Western cross-cultural negotiation and communication theories. Karrer’s research yields some significant insights into the impacts of cross-cultural issues on negotiation. Largely, he finds that current cross-cultural theories fail to provide a solid basis upon which to interpret the reality that exists on the ground in Afghanistan. This Paper draws on a final research work submitted to fulfil the requirements of the Executive Master in International Negotiation and Policy-Making (INP). The views and opinions expressed in this ePaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position position of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan
Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan

Author: Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-04-21

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 1107113997

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Despite vast efforts to build the state, profound political order in rural Afghanistan is maintained by self-governing, customary organizations. Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan explores the rules governing these organizations to explain why they can provide public goods. Instead of withering during decades of conflict, customary authority adapted to become more responsive and deliberative. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and observations from dozens of villages across Afghanistan, and statistical analysis of nationally representative surveys, Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili demonstrates that such authority enhances citizen support for democracy, enabling the rule of law by providing citizens with a bulwark of defence against predatory state officials. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it shows that 'traditional' order does not impede the development of the state because even the most independent-minded communities see a need for a central government - but question its effectiveness when it attempts to rule them directly and without substantive consultation.

The War for Afghanistan: A Very Brief History
The War for Afghanistan: A Very Brief History

Author: Thomas J. Barfield

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012-05-06

Total Pages: 62

ISBN-13: 1400843146

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When it invaded Afghanistan in 2001, the United States sought to do something previous foreign powers had never attempted: to create an Afghani state where none existed. More than a decade on, the new regime in Kabul remains plagued by illegitimacy and ineffectiveness. What happened? As Thomas Barfield shows, the history of previous efforts to build governments in Afghanistan does much to explain the difficulties besetting this newest experiment. Princeton Shorts are brief selections taken from influential Princeton University Press books and produced exclusively in ebook format. Providing unmatched insight into important contemporary issues or timeless passages from classic works of the past, Princeton Shorts enable you to be an instant expert in a world where information is everywhere but quality is at a premium.

Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency
Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency

Author: Thomas H. Johnson

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2014-01-22

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 0804789215

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The authors of Culture, Conflict and Counterinsurgency contend that an enduring victory can still be achieved in Afghanistan. However, to secure it we must better understand the cultural foundations of the continuing conflicts that rage across Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and shift our strategy from an attritional engagement to a smarter war plan that embraces these cultural dimensions. They examine the nexus of culture, conflict, and strategic intervention, and attempt to establish if culture is important in a national security and foreign policy context, and to explore how cultural phenomena and information can best be used by the military. In the process they address just how intimate cultural knowledge needs to be to counter an insurgency effectively. Finally, they establish exactly how good we've been at building and utilizing cultural understanding in Afghanistan, what the operational impact of that understanding has been, and where we must improve to maximize our use of cultural knowledge in preparing for and engaging in future conflicts.

Afghanistan -a Country Without a State?
Afghanistan -a Country Without a State?

Author: Christine Noelle-Karimi

Publisher: Iko

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13:

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The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 instantly focused international attention on Afghanistan. Suddenly, we were confronted with the need to understand how and why social and political circumstances in that country could be diametrically opposed to the values and norms commonly associated with modern states and civil society. This volume explores the question of whether Afghanistan is a country without a state. It includes contributions from twenty of the world's most distinguished experts on Afghanistan. Among the topics covered are the scope of humanitarian aid, the oppression of women, the logic of a war economy, and the potential for peace. Written and published prior to Afghanistan's liberation by U.S. forces, it nonetheless provides important background to Afganistan's past and future.