Abstract
Any meaningful study of the current situation in Afghanistan requires a critical assessment of the realities on the ground, the aspirations of the Afghan people, the country’s national interests, and the role it should play on the international stage, so that it does not become a safe haven for terrorist organizations in the future. Based on such an assessment U.S. policymakers need to formulate a new direction for conflict resolution in Afghanistan, to make it a progressive and stable democracy. For a candid appreciation of the situation, it is essential to take into consideration the characteristics of the Afghan people, their customs and traditions, the peculiarities of their different tribal languages, and other sensibilities and sensitivities such as intense religious faith and code of honor in respect to guests and elders. The cultural dimension has a very important bearing on the conduct of operations as well as on the rebuilding and reconstruction effort, which has been all but absent for many years.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Himalayas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990).
Yossef Bodansky, “The Bear on the Chessboard: Soviet Military Gains in Afghanistan,” World Affairs 145, no. 3 (1982), p. 273.
Hasan M. Kakar, Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response 1979–1982) University Press of California, Berkeley, 1995.
Matthew J. Ouimet, The Rise and Fall of Brezhnev Doctrine in Soviet Foreign Policy (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001).
Ann Scott Tyson, “U.S. Learned Its Lesson, Won’t Abandon Afghanistan, Gates Says,” Washington Post, September 9, 2009.
Ahmed Rashid, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001).
Jayshree Bajoria, “The Troubled Afghan-Pakistan Border,” Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/publication/14905/troubled_afghanpakistan_border.html, March 20, 2009.
Milan Hauner and Robert L. Canfield, Afghanistan and the Soviet Union: Collision and Transformation (Boulder, CO, San Francisco, and London: Westview Press 1989), p. 40.
Zbigniew Brzezinski’s interview with Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, January 15–21, 1998, posted at: www/globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html, October 15, 2001.
Mohammed Yousaf and Mark Adkins, Afghanistan, The Bear Trap:—The Defeat of a Superpoower (Havertown, PA: Casement, 2001).
Raphael Perl and Ronald O’Rourke, “Terrorist Attack on U.S.S. Cole: Background and Issues for Congress,” CRS Report for Congress, Order Code RS20721, FindLaw, www.findlaw.com.
Yasub Ali Dogar, “The Talibanisation of Pakistan’s Western Region,” ISAS Working Paper No. 98, Institute of South Asian Studies, www.isanus.org/events/workingpapers/97.pdf, November 24, 2009.
Lieutenant Colonel Michael J. Arinello, “National Security Strategy of Preemption,” United States Army War College Research Project, 18 March, 2005.
Shuja Nawaz, Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within,” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 544.
Hy S. Rothstein, Afghanistan & the Troubled Future of Unconventional Warfare (New Delhi, India: Manas Publications, 2006).
Kenneth Katzman, “Afghanistan: Elections, Constitution and Government,” CRS Report for Congress, Order Code RS21922, http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/67158.pdf, 25 May 2006.
Brian Ross, “Grim Afghanistan Report to Be Kept Secret,” ABC News, September 23, 2008.
Lisa Cutis and James Phillips, “Revitalising U.S. Efforts in Afghanistan,” The Heritage Foundation, www.heritage.org/research/middleeast/bg2076.cfm, October 15, 2007.
Christopher M. Blanchard, “Afghanistan: Narcotics and U.S. Policy,” Congressional Research Service, www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32686.pdf, August 12, 2009.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “Obama’s War: Starting Over on Development— U.S. Pursues a New Way to Rebuild Afghanistan,” Washington Post, June 19, 2009.
Ahmad Omid Khpalwak, “Question Time for Afghan District Governor,” BBC News Pashto Service, December 18, 2009.
Griff Witte, “Taliban Shadow Officials Offer Concrete Alternative,” Washington Post, December 8, 2009.
Jayshree Bajoria, “India-Afghanistan Relations,” Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/publication/17474/, updated July 22, 2009.
Dan Balz, “Analysis: With Speech, President Makes the Conflict His Own,” Washington Post, December 2, 2009.
Interview with General McChrystal, Charlie Rose, PBS, December 9, 2009.
Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “McChrystal’s Afghanistan Plan Stays Mainly Intact,” Washington Post, December 7, 2009.
Adam Day, “Afghanistan: Perspectives in Conflict,” Legion Magazine, March 1, 2007.
Joby Warrick, “Suicide Bomber Attacks CIA Base in Afghanistan, Killing at Least 8 Americans,” Washington Post, December 31, 2009.
Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, “Suicide bomber Who Attacked CIA Post in Afghanistan Was a Trusted Informant from Jordan,” Washington Post, January 5, 2009.
Ray Saurez, “Interview with Thomas Johnson, Research Professor at Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California and Christine Fair, Associate Professor at Georgetown University,” PBS News Hour, January 1, 2010.
Lyse Doucet, “Afghan President Stands Up to Critics,” BBC News, November 14, 2008.
Ann Scott Tyson, “Sustained Push Seen in Afghanistan,” Washington Post, February 19, 2009, p. A11.
Karen DeYoung, “U.S. Troops Erred in Fight with Taliban That killed Dozens of Civilians,” Washington Post, June 9, 2009.
Dexter Filkins, “Stanley McChrystal’s Long War,” New York Times Magazine, October 14, 2009.
Arthur Keller, “As Afghanistan Depends on U.S. Air Power, It’s Déjà Vu,” Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, March 11, 2009.
Richard Galpin, “Russians Warn of Afghan Parallels,” BBC News, February 14, 2009.
Associated Press, “Pakistan Police Arrest Suspect in Attack on Sri Lankan Cricket Team,” guardian.co.uk, June 17, 2009.
Alamgir Bhittani, “Baitullah Claims Responsibility for Manawan Attack,” Dawn.com, March 31, 2009.
Pamela Constable, “Insurgent Threat Shifts in Pakistan,” Washington Post, March 31, 2009.
Pamela Constable, “Islamic Law Instituted in Pakistan’s Swat Valley,” Washington Post, February 17, 2009.
Declan Walsh, “Video of Girl’s Flogging as Taliban Hand Out Justice,” guardian.co.uk, www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009, April 2, 2009.
Declan Walsh and Sana ul Haq, “Pakistan Launches Assault on Taliban in SWAT Valley,” guardian.co.uk, May 6, 2009.
Barbara Plett, “Plight of Pakistan’s Displaced,” BBC News, April 5, 2009.
Rezaul H. Laskar, “Pak Taliban Admits Chief Baitullah Mehsud Is Dead,” Outlook Magazine, India, August 25, 2009.
Mukhtar A. Khan, “A Profile of the TTP’s New Leader: Hakimullah Mehsud,” “Combating Terrorism at West Point,” CTC Sentinel 2, no. 10 (2009), p. 2.
Frank Gardner, “Taleban Reconciliation Possible,” BBC News, February 25, 2009.
Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid, “From Great Game to Grand Bargain,” Foreign Affairs, November/December, 2008.
Associated Press, “World Digest: Panel Sets Goals for Expanding Afghan Security Forces,” Washington Post, January 21, 2010.
Najmuddin Shaikh, “Analysis: Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy,” Daily Times (Pakistan), November 28, 2008.
Philip Mason, A Matter of Honour (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1980).
Field Marshal Sir William Slim, Defeat into Victory (London: Cassell, 1956).
John Connell, Auchinleck: A Biography of Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck (London: Cassell, 1959).
Sean Duggan, “When Will Afghanistan Stand Up?” guardian.co.uk, March 27, 2009.
Mc Parry, “Britain’s Involvement in Afghanistan Could Last 40 Years: Gen David Richards,” World Military Forum—Latest Military News, www.armybase.us/author/mc-parry/, August 8, 2009.
Special Correspondent, Dawn, Karachi, February 3, 2009.
Craig Whitlock, “Afghanistan Appeal May Temper European Allies’ Ardor for Obama,” Washington Post, February 6, 2009, p. A13.
Karen DeYoung, “Afghan President Plans on Meeting on Reintegrating, Reconciling with Insurgents,” Washington Post, January 29, 2010.
Dawood Azami, “Guantanamo Memoirs Prove Best Sellers,” BBC News Pasto Service, February 25, 2009.
Pamela Constable, “Tactical Success, Strategic Defeat—Outrage at U.S. Raid Highlights Challenges Facing New Military Push,” Washington Post, March 2, 2009, p. A01.
C.J. Chivers and Dexter Filkins, “Coalition Troops Storm a Taliban Haven,” New York Times, February 12, 2010.
Dexter Filkins, “Afghan Offensive Is New War Model,” New York Times, February 12, 2010.
Pamela Constable and Joshua Partlow, “Afghans Vote, Against Backdrop of Threats; Low Turnout in Many Areas Could Raise Questions about Legitimacy of Elections,” Washington Post, August 21, 2009.
Griff Witte, “A Karzai Victory Is Just the Ticket for Regional Commanders,” Washington Post, June 17, 2009.
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, “New Evidence of Widespread Fraud in Afghanistan Election Uncovered,” The Guardian, September 19, 2009.
Karen DeYoung and Joshua Partlow, “Runoff Expected in Afghan Elections,” Washington Post, October 16, 2009.
Alissa J. Rubin and Mark Landler, “Karzai Sworn in for Second Term President,” New York Times, November 19, 2009.
Jim Heintz and Rahim Faiez, “Afghan Lawmakers Reject Most of Karzai’s Cabinet Picks,” Washington Post, January 3, 2009.
Copyright information
© 2011 Brigadier Mohammed M. Zaki
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Zaki, M.M. (2011). War in Afghanistan: Need for New Direction. In: American Global Challenges. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119116_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230119116_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-29550-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-11911-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)