CEPSAF
Centre for Peace & Security Afghanistan – CEPSAF: Greater Middle Eastern Research and Analysis
-
Obama faces a divided public opinion over the decision to surge in Afghanistan
•
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* The Afghanistan War (and the Iraq War) had ‘left our unity on national security issues in tatters, and created a highly polarised and partisan backdrop for’ their effort to fight terrorism.[1] President Obama (and Secretary of Defense Gates) Introduction On December 1, 2009, President Barack Obama announced a critical…
-
“They attacked our temples, stoned our cremations, grabbed our land and harassed our women. There’s only so much we could tolerate. Ninety-nine per cent of our community have left their country” – 36
•
Chapter Thirty-Six Another reality grabbed my attention. As we drove outside of Kabul, I noticed my watan and my people had picked up the colour of dust: the giant mountains, the tunnels, the mud houses; the lone shops covered in piles of green and yellow melons as well as plastic bags of apples; the…
-
‘“A traditional woman” was what was on his lips. Now he abandons the traditional woman in Kabul and gets married in England. I don’t understand the logic of this” – Chapter 35
•
Chapter Thirty-Five ‘“Traditional jelai” was what was on his lips. Now he abandons the traditional jelai in Kabul and gets married in England. I don’t understand the logic of this.” Nazigul whispered that there were ‘people’ waiting in the lounge. A man in a qaraqul hat with two armed men greeted me as I…
-
After Evaluations, Bush Shifts Afghanistan ‘CT’ Strategy to COIN
•
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘Afghanistan ‘is slipping toward failure. The Taliban is back, violence is up, drug production is booming and the Afghans are losing faith in their government. All the legs of strategy ─ security, counternarcotics efforts, reconstruction and governance ─ have gone wobbly. If we should have had a surge anywhere, it…
-
Why President Bush’s Light Footprint Strategy Failed in Afghanistan
•
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* ‘If some later contended that we never had a plan for full-fledged nation building or that we under-resource such a plan, they were certainly correct. We didn’t go there to try to bring prosperity to every corner of Afghanistan. I believe…that such a goal would have amounted to a fool’s…
-
The Role of NATO in America’s Afghanistan War
•
By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction After ‘liberating Afghanistan’, the George W Bush Administration assumed that ‘the coalition of the willing’, and later North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), would shoulder responsibility[1] for the post-Taliban Afghanistan, as the US military role was assumed to win wars, not engage in peacekeeping, policing or building nations. This article…
-
“Frishta was a ‘courageous woman’, the kind any country would wish to give birth to; a voice nobody could ‘afford to ignore’” – Chapter 34
•
Chapter Thirty-Four The jeep drove through Afghanistan’s green zone, Sherpur, or what Nadir called ‘Sher-chur’ (lion’s loot) in his thesis. Nouveau riche warlords, drug lords and bureaucrats grabbed the barren patch of hillsides near Wazir Akbar Khan District in the first years of America’s invasion and turned them into the Beverly Hills of Kabul,…
-
“My ancestors…were the most fortunate people. They were born, grew up and died in the same country” – Chapter 33
•
Chapter Thirty-Three Mour planted a kiss on my head and thanked Khudai. I pulled my head away as she aimed to kiss me again. Hobbled to my place in the lounge, heavy with freshly sprayed vanilla, and sat on the mattress. Shujah and Mour took their places. The wrinkles on Shujah’s forehead had increased…
-
“I’d known getting married in Kabul was not straightforward, but I’d never foreseen what it’d lead to” – Chapter 32
•
Chapter Thirty-Two A green-uniformed man, sitting in between Nazia and me, warned that each word earned us a slap. He held the rose flower design earrings I’d bought for my cousin sister. Glanced at them, glared at me and shook his head. Abstained from battering me, perhaps, because his boss in the front passenger…
-
The second marriage proposal goes horribly wrong – Chapter 31
•
Chapter Thirty-One In the bright early morning of the following day, on the way to school, Najiba, who had thin lips and a headscarf covering her forehead down to the bridge of her nose, popped in to explain the plan. We thanked Najiba for her invaluable help. She did this because Khudailoved those who…