Search

Begin New Search Political Geography Afghanistan Publication Year within 25 Years

1021. East of the Middle East: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and U.S. security implications

Author:
Tim Murphy
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
The war in Afghanistan represented an eastward shift in the United States' international focus. Previously concentrated on the Middle East, the United States has reconfigured its foreign policy directives to include interests east of the Middle East. The shift was long overdue. Central Asia is a rising regional security concern, and Chinese and Russian actions therein have cultivated robust political ties. Resulting cooperatives and agreements promote Chinese and Russian regional objectives. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) originally consisted of five Central Asian and Asian countries (the Shanghai Five), ostensibly to unify signatories on economic, social and political platforms. However, the SCO is often a proxy to advance Chinese and Russian interests.
Topic:
Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Middle East, and Asia

1022. Afghan Update: Oct. 1 – Oct. 31, 2006

Author:
Thomas Keller
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
On Oct. 2 two U.S. and one Afghan soldier were killed in an insurgent attack in Kunar province. Three Americans were also wounded. A U.S. patrol was targeted by a suicide bomber in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 7 – the five-year anniversary of the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom – no casualties were reported. Six men delivering aid from American forces were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Oct. 14. U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops raided an insurgent hideout in Ghazni Province on Oct. 17; one soldier was wounded and three militants killed.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and Asia

1023. Afghanistan Stage III: NATO's most ambitious operation?

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In the months ahead, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) will deploy thousands more troops to Afghanistan as part of its ongoing mission to “support the Government of Afghanistan in providing and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate the re-building of Afghanistan.” Troop levels are expected to rise from about 8,000 in January to 17,000 by the end of October. The expansion, known as Stage III, will be responsible for maintaining security in the troubled southern provinces, where most violent attacks against foreign and domestic forces have taken place. NATO's commander, U.S. Gen. James L. Jones said ISAF could total as many as 25,000 troops eventually. British, Dutch and Canadian forces will be leading the effort to bring peace to Afghanistan through both civilian and military methods. Troops will be engaged in peacekeeping, reconstruction and, in all likelihood, open conflict – an effort Jones called “NATO's most ambitious operation.” Despite a lack of popular support for the missions in all three of the main troop-contributing countries, international leaders have pledged to safeguard Afghanistan from both internal and external forces that would otherwise lead the country into chaos.
Topic:
NATO, Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

1024. Afghan Update: March 3 - March 31, 2006

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Three Afghan guards and a French Special Forces officer were killed when insurgents attacked a post in Kandahar on March 4. The same day, a roadside bomb exploded when a government vehicle drove by, killing a local intelligence chief and three of his bodyguards. The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan

1025. Afghan Update: Jan. 1 - Feb. 7, 2006

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Feb. 13 when their vehicle hit a bomb in central Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. It was the deadliest single-day loss of American troops since September, when five died in a helicopter crash.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

1026. Afghan Update: Jan. 1 - Feb. 7, 2006

Author:
Francis Rheinheimer
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Feb. 13 when their vehicle hit a bomb in central Afghanistan's Uruzgan province. It was the deadliest single-day loss of American troops since September, when five died in a helicopter crash. On Feb. 19, the Pentagon announced that 215 U.S. soldiers had been killed since the conflict began in late 2001. Of those, 129 were killed by hostile action. On Feb. 23, a man driving a truck filled with explosives was shot and killed by coalition forces after the material failed to explode. He managed to throw one grenade but no soldiers were hurt.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, and America

1027. Afghan Update: Nov. 28 - Dec. 31, 2005

Author:
Joseph Button
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
On Nov. 30, suspected Taliban militants ambushed a U.S.-led convoy in Helmand province. U.S. warplanes and troops responding to the attack killed two militants. On Dec. 4, two U.S. Chinook helicopters facing enemy fire made emergency landings. The first landed harshly north of Kandahar, injuring five U.S. soldiers. The second aircraft made a came down at a forward base in Uruzgan province, injuring an Afghan soldier.
Topic:
Human Welfare, Politics, Religion, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Afghanistan and United States

1028. Cop Out - Why Afghanistan Has No Police

Author:
Vance Serchuk
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
When rioting sparked by a fatal traffic accident involving the U.S. military suddenly broke out in Kabul in May, most in the city were taken by surprise. Less shocking was the response of the Afghan National Police (ANP) to the unrest. Rather than dispersing the mobs and restoring order, Kabul's cops were reported fleeing their posts and, in some cases, joining the looters. “The reaction of our police was really shameful,” acknowledged Jawed Ludin, chief of staff to President Hamid Karzai. Unfortunately, the sorry performance of the ANP was not an isolated event, but a reflection of a much bigger problem. Nearly five years since the ouster of the Taliban and more than three since the fall of Saddam, the Bush administration has repeatedly stumbled in its efforts to create effective foreign police forces. In marked contrast to the army-building efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have begun to yield encouraging results, the indigenous police in both countries appear stuck in a transition to nowhere, slaughtered by insurgents and infiltrated by militias and warlords.
Topic:
Government, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, Middle East, Taliban, and Kabul

1029. A Window of Opportunity - The War against the Terror Masters Redux

Author:
Michael A. Ledeen
Publication Date:
07-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
September 11 happened when Osama bin Laden looked at us and thought we were ready to be had. We were politically divided and squabbling over everything. We clearly were not prepared to take casualties in direct combat. The newly elected president seemed unable to make a tough decision. And so bin Laden attacked, expecting to deliver a decisive blow to our national will, expecting that we would turn tail and run as we had in Somalia and that he would then be free to concentrate his energies on the defeat of local apostates, the creation of his caliphate, and the organization of Muslim revenge for the catastrophes of past centuries. Within a few months he was driven out of Afghanistan, his organization was shattered, the Arab street he had hoped to mobilize was silenced by the shock and awe of the total victory of the Americans, and he became an instrument of forces greater than himself. If he still lives, he is the servant of the Shiite mullahs, making propaganda movies and audiotapes to bolster the morale of the constantly shrinking number of his admirers, while the mullahs order his followers to martyr themselves against Iraqi civilians.
Topic:
International Relations, Terrorism, and War
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, America, and Middle East

1030. Afghan Insurgency Still A Potent Force

Author:
Emily Hsu and Beth DeGrasse
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
United States Institute of Peace
Abstract:
Since they reorganized their forces in Pakistan in 2003, Taliban and other anti-government militia have sought to disrupt democratization efforts and sow a climate of fear in Afghanistan. As a result, violence has crept back onto the international radar screen in the last couple of years, a brutal reminder the insurgency is far from defeated. This rise in bloodshed is particularly problematic today, as U.S. forces begin this summer to transfer control of insurgent-heavy regions of the country to NATO. The U.S. Institute of Peace held a recent special session of its Afghanistan Working Group dedicated to this topic, with counterinsurgency experts Seth Jones of the RAND Corporation and Colonel David Lamm of National Defense University. Beth DeGrasse, coordinator of USIP's Afghanistan Working Group
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, and Asia