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.
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Enduring Peace, Stability and Prosperity, Afghanistan.
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(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
Do Countries Need Religion and Education Freedom to Achieve Prosperity?
The goal of this study is to determine the link between educational and religious freedom and prosperity in 45 countries from 2009 to 2018. Using the GMM system, the researchers were able to analyze the data. They found that academic and religious freedom is associated with increased prosperity. The collaboration of religious and academic freedom is also positive, which indicates that the two factors can contribute to the increase in prosperity. The researchers introduced the term "government effectiveness" to describe the relationship between capital formation and economic prosperity. The researchers used trade openness and gross fixed capital formation as control variables. Although they have a positive impact on the overall economy, they are not able to provide a significant boost to the prosperity of low-income countries. Therefore, the researchers recommend that educational and religious freedom be included in the government's efforts to improve the economic prosperity of these countries.
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Government, Religious, Prosperity, Economy
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(1) Imran Ullah khan
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Hazara University, Mansehra, KP, Pakistan.
(2) Muhammad Haroon
Assistant Professor, Department of Management Science, National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad, Pakistan.
(3) Aisha Tahir
M.Phil., Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, Pakistan.