Security Governance in Afghanistan and the US Role
A critical analysis
Security Governance in Afghanistan
I. Summary:
Afghan security forces have lead security responsibility throughout the country, and the United
States and its allies are reducing military involvement in Afghanistan. The current International security mission finishes at end of 2014 and is expected to transition to a smaller mission consisting mostly of training the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF). The number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, about 100,000 in 2011, was reduced to a “pre-surge” level of about 66,000 by 2012, and to about 34,000 as of 2014 (Ellwood 2014). According to a US report the U.S. force will minimize to about 22,000 by the end of October. A “residual force” that will remain in Afghanistan after 2014 is likely to consist of about 12,000 U.S. and NATO trainers and mentors, of which about two-thirds would be U.S. forces, plus about 3,000 mostly U.S. counterterrorism forces. No decisions on the residual force have been announced, in part because President Hamid Karzai refuses to sign a required Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) before he leaves office in mid-2014 (Krishnamurthy 2014). However, all the candidates in presidential election which just took place with apparent high turnout and minimal violence publicly support the agreement. But a successor will likely not take office until July 2014 at the earliest, constraining the U.S. and NATO force planning process. Fearing instability after 2014, some ethnic and political faction leaders are reviving their militia forces should the international drawdown lead to a major Taliban push to retake power. U.S and Afghan armed force could not totally eliminate The Taliban, Al Q...
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...e the conditional inclusion into a new, more regionally focused structure where it has a real opportunity to participate and win elections in regions such as the greater Kandahar area. This, however, is only possible through governance and the party political reform outlined in the previous chapter.
Works Cited
Ellwood, Tobias. "Stabilizing Afghanistan: Proposals for Improving Security, Governance, and Aid/Economic Development." Atlantic Council , 2014: 3-28.
Fluri, Dr. Phillip. Afghanistan’s Security sector governance Challenges . Geneva: Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, 2013.
Katzman, Kenneth. Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy. CSR Report , New York: Congressional Research Service, 2014.
Krishnamurthy, Rajeshwari. "Afghanistan 2014 BSA, Internal Security, Taliban & Indian Strategy." Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies , 2014: 4-16.
Jalali, Ali Ahmad, and Lester W. Grau. Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2001.
Mason, Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris (2007), 'Understanding the Taliban and Insurgency in Afghanistan', Orbis, 51 (1), 18.
Afghanistan since its beginning has been a place of conflict, despair, and at times lost hope. It has been taken advantage of and lost its sense of identity, which has had a direct effect on its people, and there own sense of what justice truly is.
Witte, Griff. "Afghanistan War (2001-present)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.
Smith, Gordon. “Canada in Afghanistan: Is it working?” Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute, 2007.
On September 11, 2001, the most disastrous terrorist attack in U.S. history left a countless number of innocent Americans both dead and missing. The Taliban’s assault on the Pentagon and annihilation of New York’s World Trade Center caused the entire country to wonder what was going on in the rest of the world to cause so much animosity toward our great nation. Little did many American citizens know that this shocking catastrophe was the result of years of unrest and chaos in the Middle East. The tragic events of September 11th occurred as a result of the recent, political history of Afghanistan, the development of the radical Islamic group, the Taliban, and the monetary and military support that the Taliban has received.
...n Afghanistan. Ed. Jann Einfeld. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2005. Current Controversies. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 29 Apr. 2014. .
Sikal, A. (2004). In A. Sikal, Independence and Radical Modernization, In Modern Afghanistan: A History of Struggle and Survival. New York .
Kowaluk, L., & Staples, S. (2008). Afghanistan and Canada: Is there an alternative to war? Montreal: Black Rose Books.
For decades Afghanistan has been a reservoir for war. From the collapse of the communist government, to the implementation of the Taliban’s extremist views, the country has been ridden with civil war resulting in over 26,000 civilians killed at the expense of the interminable violence. The people of Afghanistan see no end to the barbaric measures that have stripped them of their liberty. While corruption ridden the country’s leaders, the Taliban displays the public slaughter of civilians in order to establish obedience.
Violence is a major part of Afghan history, it is woven deeply into the rich history of Afghanistan. Near the end of the twentieth century, Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviet Union and infiltrated by Islamic Radicalists, mainly from the Middle East and Pakistan. Using the help of Senator Charlie Wilson and his proposal to increase the budget for Afghanistan and involvement with the Afghan people, the United States doubled their budget for supplying Afghanistan and became more involved in Afghan conflicts. With the help of the United States budget and training, Afghanistan became the first country to defeat the Soviet Union (Charlie Wilson’s War). Since United States involvement there has been a debate on how long the Western Forces should remain in Afghanistan. While some will argue that
Tse H. (n.d), A Focused and Targeted Expansion of NATO and ISAF Involvement in Afghanistan Counter narcotics Operations pdf, pp 22 [Retrieved on: 10/05/2014]
Recently Afghanistan has grown significantly in terms of its ability to care for itself. A national army and a developing police force are becomi...
In the past ten years the Afghan Government has been dealing with a number of issues that have caused problems for the country, problems such as illegal drug trade, terrorism and violence. But nowadays they are fighting a problem that has long existed between people, and quite recently has taken a whole new aspect to it. Ethnic conflict is the destructive factor that has caused problems between people for generations, often leading to fights, outbreak of violence and grudge between different ethnicities.
Jarvenpaa, M. (2013). Making Peace in Afghanistan: The Missing Political Strategy. United States Institute for Peace, Peace brief, 3-9.