Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region
Afghanistan has witnessed a turbulent history of long and devastating war due to Soviet unabated invasion of Afghanistan of ten years producing unbearable losses of life, institutions and society. The United States along-with the support of majority of Muslim countries supported Jihad to defeat communism. This victory was, however, short-lived as infighting among Afghan war lords later entangled the entire country with even graver consequence. The emergence of Taliban and resultant occupation of 70% of Afghanistan had brought some degree of stability by providing good governance and expeditious justice system, but failed to pragmatically adjust to international environment. The unfortunate incidents of 9/11 changed the world for foreseeable time with even harsher fall out for Afghan nation as unleashing of the war of terror destroyed the left over Afghanistan. The instability in Afghanistan has caused negative effects on Pakistan as next door neighbour, which has rendered all sorts of humanitarian, diplomatic and moral support to Afghan cause since Soviet invasion and has also suffered most in the process due to spill-over effects. The democratic government is incharge in Afghanistan after fall of Taliban regime in 2001 and several state institutions are also in place albeit at infancy stage, especially the security institutions, yet the prospects of enduring peace and stability are distant reality. More than three million Afghan refugees are still in Pakistan with very dim prospects of honourable return due to persisting instability. This paper highlights the causes of instability in Afghanistan with spill-over impact on Pakistan and suggests a course of action for enduring stability.
-
(1) Waseem Ishaque
Assistant Professor at Department of International Relations, National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan
(2) Ghulam Qumber
Deputy Director, Research and Publications ISSRA National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan
(3) Syed Jawad Shah
MPhil, Media Studies, National Defence University, Islamabad, Pakistan
- Transparency International. (2009). 'Corruption Perceptions Index 2009',. Transparency,International. https://www.transparency.org/research/cpi/cpi_2009/0
- US Department of Defence. (2015). 'Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan' . Retrieved frome https://www.defense.gov /Portals /1/Documents/pubs/1225_Report_Dec_2015_-_Final_20151210.pdf.
- Katzman, K. & Thomas, C.(2017). 'Afghanistan: Post-Taliban Governance, Security, and U.S. Policy' C. (Washington, D.C: Congressional Research Service.
- Stancati, M. & Totakhil, H.K. (2014). 'Afghans' War Remains Fierce After Coalition Ends Combat Mission. Wall Street Journal.
- Landler, M. & Cooper, H. (22 June 2011). 'Obama Will Speed Pullout From War in Afghanistan'. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www. nytimes.com/2011/06/23/world/asia/23prexy.html.
- The White House. (2017). 'Remarks by President Trump on the Strategy in Afghanistan and South Asia', .The White House. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/08/21/remarkspresident-trump-strategy-afghanistan-and-south-asia.
- Heart of Asia. (2015). The Heart of Asia- Istanbul Process Senior Officials Meeting. Heart of Asia. Retrieved from http://hoa.gov.af/344/heart-asiaistanbul-process-senior-officials-meeting-8-december-2015-islamabad.
- Jalali, A.A.(2016). Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces: Mission, Challenges, and Sustainability, Peaceworks . Washington, D.C: United States Institute of Peace.
- Malik, A. (2016). 'Darra Adam Khel:
- Peter, B.(n.d.). For Trump's Generals, This Is Personal.
- Jon, B.(2015). Musharraf: Pakistan and India's Backing for http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/13/pervez-musharrafpakistan-india-proxies-afghanistan-ghani-taliban.
- Dale, C. (2011). War in Afghanistan: Strategy, Operations, and Issues for Congress. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service.
- Cordesman, A. H. (2015). Afghanistan a Year After
- Curtis, L.(2016). Don't Give Up on Afghanistan,. The Cipher Brief. Retrieved from https://www.thecipherbrief.com/dont-give-up-on-afghanistan-2.
- Houlihan, E. & Spencer, W. (2017). Rule of Law, Governance, and Human Rights in Afghanistan, 2002 to 2016. Washington, D.C: United States Institute of Peace.
- Filkins, D. (2002). Flaws in U.S. Air War Left Hundreds of Civilians Dead. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www. nytimes.com/2002/07/21/world/flaws-in-us-air-war-left-hundreds-ofcivilians-dead.html.
- McMaster, H.R. & Cohn, G.D.(n.d.). America First Doesn't Mean America Alone.
- Livingston, I.S. & O'Hanlon, M. (2016). Afghanistan Index: Also Including Selected Data on Pakistan. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institute.
- Sehgal, I. (2015). The Heart of Asia', Daily Times. Retrieved from https://dailytimes.com.pk/97093/the-heart-of-asia/.
- Jamal, U. (2015). On a Tightrope: Can Afghanistan Balance Between Pakistan and India?. Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2015/11/on-atightrope-can-afghanistan-balance-between-pakistan-and-india/.
- McCoy, A. W. (15 June 2010). America and the Dictators: From Ngo Dinh Diem to Hamid Karzai', Huffington Post (blog). Retrieved from . https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alfred-w-mccoy/america-and-thedictators_b_539214.html.
- Yusuf, M & Smith, S.(2015). Ashraf Ghani's Pakistan Outreach: Fighting against the Odds. Washington, D.C: United States Institute of Peace.
- Yusuf, M & Smith, S.( n.d.). Ashraf Ghani's Pakistan Outreach: Fighting against the Odds.
- Neumann, R. E. (2015). Failed Relations between Hamid Karzai and the United States: What Can We Learn?. Washington,D.C: United States Institute of Peace.
- Office of the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (2015). President of Afghanistan President Ghani's Remarks at 51st Munich Security Conference, Munich, Germany'. Retrieved from https://president. gov.af/en/speech/president-ghanis-remarks-at-51th-m.
- Lissner, R.F. & Zenko, M. (2017). There Is No Trump Doctrine, and There Will Never Be One. Retrieved from https://foreignpolicy. com/2017/07/21/there-is-no-trump-doctrine-and-there-will-never-be-onegrand-strategy.
- Rumsfeld, D. (2011). Known and Unknown: A Memoir . New York: Penguin Group.
- Sadat, S.M. (2015). TAPI and CASA-1000: Win-Win Trade between Central Asia and South Asia. Central Asia Security Policy Briefs . Oslo, Norway: : Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Stelzenmüller, C. (2017). At Last: The Trump Doctrine, Revealed', Brookings (blog). Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-fromchaos/2017/06/05/at-last-the-trump-doctrine-revealed/.
- Sundby, A. (2013). Karzai on Taliban: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/karzai-on-taliban-imstill-calling-them-brothers.
- Masood, T. (2015). Need for Revisiting Afghan Policy. The Express Tribune. Retrieved from https://tribune.com.pk/story/1001929/need-for-revisitingafghan-policy/.
- Daily Outlook Afghanistan. (2015). TAPI Project Begins Next Week. Retrieved from http://outlookafghanistan.net/national_detail.php?post_id=1383.
- Martel, W.C. (2015). Grand Strategy in Theory and Practice: The Need for an Effective American Foreign Policy . New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Cite this article
-
APA : Ishaque, W., Qumber, G., & Shah, S. J. (2017). Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region. Global Social Sciences Review, II(II), 146-161. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2017(II-II).09
-
CHICAGO : Ishaque, Waseem, Ghulam Qumber, and Syed Jawad Shah. 2017. "Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region." Global Social Sciences Review, II (II): 146-161 doi: 10.31703/gssr.2017(II-II).09
-
HARVARD : ISHAQUE, W., QUMBER, G. & SHAH, S. J. 2017. Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region. Global Social Sciences Review, II, 146-161.
-
MHRA : Ishaque, Waseem, Ghulam Qumber, and Syed Jawad Shah. 2017. "Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region." Global Social Sciences Review, II: 146-161
-
MLA : Ishaque, Waseem, Ghulam Qumber, and Syed Jawad Shah. "Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region." Global Social Sciences Review, II.II (2017): 146-161 Print.
-
OXFORD : Ishaque, Waseem, Qumber, Ghulam, and Shah, Syed Jawad (2017), "Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region", Global Social Sciences Review, II (II), 146-161
-
TURABIAN : Ishaque, Waseem, Ghulam Qumber, and Syed Jawad Shah. "Prospects of Enduring Peace in Afghanistan: Avoiding Zero Sum Game in Af-Pak Region." Global Social Sciences Review II, no. II (2017): 146-161. https://doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2017(II-II).09