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 The avenue for interaction between different factors will have new dimensions once US and NATO forces are withdrawn from Afghanistan.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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UNICEF. “Land-mines: A deadly inheritance”. Retrieved 10 Feb. 2012 from http://www.unicef.org/graca/mines.htm
"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.
Elphinstone, M.(1815). "Account of the Kingdom of Cabul and its Dependencies in Persia and India". London: Longman. Hurst. Rees. Orme & Brown.
The novel Prince of Afghanistan by Louis Nowra (2015) explores two Australian soldiers, Casey and Mark who are involved in a mission to rescue hostages captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, due to the unfortunate death of Casey, being killed by a Taliban rocket, his dog, Prince is left behind with no carer, other than Mark. With the brutality of war, and the race against hunger, danger and time, they both must rely on each other for survival. As the story reflects upon Australians engagement with Asia, it conveys themes of friendship, trust and the nature of courage and heroism through the character, character development and the relationship among each other.
The worst case scenario for the United States in the late 70s and early 80s was the threat of the Soviet invasion of Iran and subsequent control of the Saudi Oil fields. The best that could be done to counter a possible Soviet invasion would have been the deployment of parts of the 82nd Airborne Division to the Zagros Mountains of Iran, which would take at least a week with reinforcements arriving much later. This was not acceptable to the Carter Administration, which decided on another course of action - to actively support the anti-Soviet Mujahideen “freedom - fighters” in Afghanistan and help protect the Middle Eastern oil fields. This American involvement in the Soviet Afghan war has led to the emergence of Al-Qaeda and the September 11th attacks.
"The Taliban." Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Gale Cengage Learning, 2010. Web. 6 Nov. 2011. .
In My Forbidden Face, Latifa explains how the Taliban are waging a cultural war against Western values. The Taliban’s goal in Kabul is to secure the environment where purity of people, especially of women, may be sacred again. However, in the book, Latifa discusses many issues that the people from Kabul experience at the hands of the Taliban such as the plight of women and men’s struggles, their views on news, media, and art, people’s education, and their religion. Throughout the book, the methods that the Taliban reinforce are very unreasonable, which leads to violence.
Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 1991. Print.
Özcan, Azmi. "Empire, Ottoman." Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450. Ed. Thomas Benjamin. Vol. 1. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. 407-416. World History in Context. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
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...
Fleming, Sean Michael. "Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia." Library Journal 15 Feb. 2006
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.
Canada has played a vital role in international relations for the majority of its 144 year history since the signing of Confederation in 1867. Canada first participated in World War I, then World War II in 1939-1945. Following World War II, Canada was also involved in the Korean War. Canada has been primarily a peacekeeping nation. There are many questions people ask when a high income country goes to help a lower income nation such as Afghanistan. What are Canada’s motives for helping out Afghanistan? Who will benefit from Canada going to war in Afghanistan? These are some of the questions many people have. While Canada has many domestic problems of its own such as homelessness, poverty and increasing national debt, why should Canada get involved with a problem that is across the globe? Are the costs of going to war out weight the political benefits? Modernity, modernization theory and gender stratification are some key concepts that are related to Canada going to war in Afghanistan.
The Web. 11 Feb 2014. Mondloch, Chris. A. “Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy.” Foreign Policy.
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.
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...
Council, H. P. (2012). Afghanistan's vision by 2015 . Kabul: High Peace Council law committee .