MEI Podcast 32
Is There a Political Solution to the Afghan Conflict?
Amb. Omar Samad, Shamila Chaudhary, Arif Rafiq, Marvin Weinbaum
MEI Podcast 32
Is There a Political Solution to the Afghan Conflict?
Amb. Omar Samad, Shamila Chaudhary, Arif Rafiq, Marvin Weinbaum
MEI Podcast 32
Is There a Political Solution to the Afghan Conflict?
Amb. Omar Samad, Shamila Chaudhary, Arif Rafiq, Marvin Weinbaum
MEI Podcast 32
Is There a Political Solution to the Afghan Conflict?
Amb. Omar Samad, Shamila Chaudhary, Arif Rafiq, Marvin Weinbaum
MEI Podcast 32
Is There a Political Solution to the Afghan Conflict?
Amb. Omar Samad, Shamila Chaudhary, Arif Rafiq, Marvin Weinbaum
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had high hopes for the visit to Tehran by new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. His trip on Thursday for the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit might have been brief — his spokesman emphasized ahead of time that he would spend only four hours on Iranian soil, including getting stuck in traffic — but Iran’s leaders relished the opportunity to demonstrate progress in overcoming its isolation in the Arab world and to gain some democratic and revolutionary legitimacy by proxy.
The “new and improved” tactics of “divide and conquer” are operational both at the vertical and horizontal layers of the government and society in Afghanistan.
Recent media coverage of the Afghan war questions whether we’ve made meaningful progress towards security and an effective Government in that country. Or were the past ten years a lost decade for the Afghans and Coalition partners? This ten-year milestone is a good point in time to pause, check Afghanistan’s progress, and assess where it appears to be headed. With the assistance of over 40 nations, Afghanistan developed its infrastructure and has taken major steps towards self sufficiency.
MEI Podcast Tue, 8/14/2012 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
MEI Podcast Tue, 8/14/2012 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
MEI Podcast Tue, 8/14/2012 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
MEI Podcast Tue, 8/14/2012 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
“War is merely the continuation of policy by other means.” – Clause von Clausewitz
Considering Diplomacy and War
Originally posted December 2009
We are regularly bombarded by news reports and political analysis that reflect certain underlying assumptions about Afghanistan. These assumptions range from claims that Afghanistan was always a backward state ruled by warlords, to assertions that the country was never really a nation at all, and proclamations that Afghanistan is unfit for Western-style democracy and that it is dangerously naïve to think otherwise.
Since the overthrow of King Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1973, Afghanistan has been plagued by war — either war waged among ideologues (Marxists v. nationalists) or war marked by foreign invasion and occupation. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which began in 1979, lasted a full decade.