CEPSAF
Centre for Peace & Security Afghanistan – CEPSAF: Greater Middle Eastern Research and Analysis
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Bush’s Freedom Agenda’s Impact on Afghanistan and Iraq Policies
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By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction This short essay first explains what President George W Bush’s Freedom Agenda is. It then explains what impact it had on the Bush Administration’s policymaking towards the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. The essay ends with a conclusion. What is the Freedom Agenda? Professor Shane J. Ralston offers a good…
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“Islam is about respecting women, not oppressing them.” – Chapter 11
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Chapter Eleven The following day, to many students’ horror, the buffalo-headed Mullah Rahmat showed up at the assembly. He’d dismissed Raziq Khan for failing to follow his ‘clear instructions’ and reiterated his ‘feet-and-the-halek’s-stomach’ threat. We marched into separate year nine classes: one all jelais; the other all haleks. We were in the nine alef,…
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“Release yourself from people’s chains…and you’ll fly as high as the…pigeons” – Chapter 10
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Chapter Ten “Release yourself from people’s chains…and you’ll fly as high as the…pigeons.” The following day at school break, Shafih collapsed as we lay on the lawn to enjoy the warm sunshine and the smell of fresh grass. Students chilled out in twos and threes, eating simyan and chickpeas, sucking lollipops, or crunching on…
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From Beirut to 9/11: Experiences Shaping Bush’s GWOT
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By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction This essay considers how the belief systems and images (beliefs and past experiences) of President George W Bush and his close advisors on how to deal with terrorism/states sponsoring terrorism shaped the Global War on Terror (GWOT) strategy. The belief systems of Bush and his close advisors ‘…there…
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How Bush’s Instincts Shaped the Bush Doctrines and War Policy
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By Dr Sharifullah Dorani* Introduction This article focuses on how President George W Bush acted upon his ‘gut feelings’ and ‘instincts’ and consequently made up doctrines without fully considering their vast consequences. Those doctrines contributed significantly to the making of the Global War on Terror (GWOT) strategy, with Afghanistan being its first station and…
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“We’re seen as a burden. First, dependent on fathers. Then husbands. Finally, sons. We must end this dependency” – Chapter 9
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Chapter Nine Wazir waited in the bright morning under the acacia tree on the lawn in front of Baktash’s corridor. Normally, Baktash joined me second, and Wazir last. Shirullah met us in the Market, and we dawdled to school. Why’s Wazir first today? I wondered. ‘It’s the time,’ Wazir said. Sunrays, coming through the…
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“Mazar-e-Sharif fell to…General Abdul Rashid Dostum, …and the Mujahideen could anytime capture Kabul” – Chapter 8
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Chapter Eight The post-dinner evening teas became a nightly routine. To my surprise, Agha talked a lot to Brigadier. I soon discovered they’d fathered the same child: they sat on sofas in the top two corners of the room, opposite each other, with cups of tea and bowls of sugar-coated almonds and chocolates placed…
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‘We Afghan Women are patient but not feeble!’ – Chapter 7
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Chapter Seven Frishta held two thermos flasks of green tea and three plastic trays of sugar-coated almonds and chocolates, and placed one tray before Mour on the Afghan rug, and the other two on the oak table in front of Agha and me. Poured the steaming tea into cups and placed them next to…
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“A fight between a villain Bruce Lee and a hero Arnold Schwarzenegger” – Chapter 6
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Chapter Six The rukhsati bell clanged. Every student cheered the occasion; I found it the scariest rukhsati of my life. We crossed the black school gate in the chilling weather and, thanks Khudai, saw no Rashid. Hurried by the sideway along the school walls and onto the muddy playground with pools of surface water.…
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“Rashid, the school gangster, is back!” – Chapter 5
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Chapter Five The wooden canteen – big enough to accommodate the salesman and a few jars of spicy simyan or a home-made snack, chickpeas, biscuits and lollipop – often took up half of our break owing to its location in the far corner of the schoolyard, and its lengthy queues. Today was no exception,…