1. Afghanistan: The unique lebensraum
Sir Halford John Mackinder in his famous –Heartland theory changed the concept of world geopolitics by saying- “Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland, Who rules the Heartland commands the World-Island
Who rules the World-Island commands the world.”
Afghanistan geographically lies in the periphery of Central Asia, yet this does not reduce its geostrategic importance in the geopolitical phenomena of this region. Not only geographical contiguity, common racial, ethnic, cultural and religious threads of connection make Afghanistan interlinked with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and other countries of Central Asia. Huge cross-border migration, intruding cross-border conflicts culminating from ethnic, national and terrorist issues and involvement of superpowers in Afghanistan has always put Central Asian countries in a situation where they cannot ignore Afghanistan and cannot think to realize their dreams of regional stability and peace without collaborating with Kabul. Similarly, for other countries, including Pakistan, India, and neighboring regional powers, Afghanistan has remained as cause of disagreement. The Great Game of superpowers in Asia that had dynamics much larger than its regional platform was played on the grounds of Afghanistan. Therefore, to study Central Asian geopolitics, Afghanistan needs to be explored in every historical and geopolitical aspect. The avenue for interaction between different factors will have new dimensions once US and NATO forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan. Central Asian countries Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have common borders with Afghanistan of around 2,000 kilometers. Topography on these frontiers –for Turkmenistan and Uzbeki...
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"Afghanistan” Berkley Center for Religion. Peace. and World Affairs. Retrieved 10 December 2012. from http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/resources/countries/afghanistan
Olson. Parmy (2010). "The World's Most Dangerous Countries". Forbes Retrieved 10 Feb 2012. from http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/14/most-dangerous-countries-lifestyle-travel-haiti-afghanistan-iraq.html
Dupree, L, Nancy Hatch Dupree & others. "Last Afghan empire". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 20 Feb 2012. From http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7798/Afghanistan/21386/The-first-Muslim-dynasties.
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In the post-classical Indian society, there were many regional kingdoms (Lecture 16). Politically, both the Islamic and Indian society had strong influence on the how the neighboring societies were shaped during the post-classical era. During this period, there was a collapse of centralized political rule within the Indian society. There were also several internal wars and invasions in the Indian region, and led to a situation in which this the northern Indian region became politically fragmented and quite chaotic. There was a lack of political unification in both societies which made foreign incursion easy, and this probably led to Muslim conquests in the Northern region of India between 8th-13th c. C.E. (Lecture 16). In the Islamic world, two emissari...
The Afghanistan insurgency between 1979 and 1989 ended with the withdrawal of the Soviet Union armed forces . This “successful” rebellion was not merely because the Soviet Union saw the Taliban as a simple Islamist movement and underestimated their resistant, but it was also believed that the special characteristics that the Taliban insurgents possess, such as motivation and strategy played important role. This article will assess the special characteristics that identify Taliban as an insurgent group, specifically on the purpose and motivation of their fight, popular support and the strategies and tactics that were used by them to expel the Soviet Union from Afghan soil. Overall, this essay argues that these three characteristics comprise some of the several causes that contributed to Soviet Union withdrawal from Afghanistan. To summarize, this essay will sequentially examine the Afghanistan’s movement features, first is the purpose and motivation, second the popular support to their movement and their strategies and tactics against Soviet Union. In addition, in the conclusion, there will be a summary of the article and some recommendations for further research in order to complete the understanding of the Afghani Mujahideen insurgency.
5[5] Deepali, Naren. The Mughal Dynasty [online]. 2003- [cited 18 November 2003]. Available on World Wide Web: (http://www.geocities.com/narenp/history/history/mughal.htm)
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.
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Located in the province of Xianjing, the Uyghurs are isolated by massive mountains, deserts, Communist China, and extreme poverty. The Uyghurs are of Turkic origin, and were one of the 9 original tribes. One of these tribes, the Ottomans, sacked Constantinople in 1459, starting the rein of the Sultans for 400 years. The superpower carved a massive empire, from its roots in Turkey, to spread from the Russian steppes to the Alps to India, and stamping their name on history in blood. European history in the 1400‘s, 1500‘s, and 1600‘s centered on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and the Arabic people carved two massive empires in an extremely short time. They crushed the medieval christian kingdoms around Jerusalem, and quickly started attacking Christian kingdoms in Spain, Greece, and the Balkans. These conflicts between Muslims and Christians have been the longest and bloodiest in the history of the world, and still persist today. These Ottomans are, understandably, the most wel...
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan on December 1979, the goal was to help Afghan communist forces set up a communist government. The Soviet Union felt Afghanistan had key resources and a foothold in the Middle East to spread communist ideas. The result would be a war that the Soviet Union wishes it never got involved in and likened to their “Vietnam War”, meaning winning a number of battles but not the war like what happened to the U.S. in Vietnam. The background of the war, outcome of the war, and impact on the United States are key to understanding the Soviet-Afghan War.
Kowaluk, L., & Staples, S. (2008). Afghanistan and Canada: Is there an alternative to war? Montreal: Black Rose Books.
Mousavi, Sayed Askar. The Hazaras Of Afghanistan. A Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1997.
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Afghanistan’s importance with respect to the cultural impact of globalization is increasing as the war in Afghanistan draws down. Afghanistan sits on the edge of the unknown. Once the United States leaves it will be left to create its own destiny. The eyes of the world will be on Afghanistan to see who it allies with, who it trades with and how it conducts itself.
Afghanistan; Taliban controlled, discrimination and love everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. It’s a nation where culture and tradition are of immense importance, especially to the older generation. Over 53% of Afghan population is below the poverty line, making the country one of the Earth’s poorest. Life would be lived on a day to day basis, not knowing if it’s safe to be outside, when...
Jarvenpaa, M. (2013). Making Peace in Afghanistan: The Missing Political Strategy. United States Institute for Peace, Peace brief, 3-9.