Essays
Country Corner
Commentary on Afghanistan by Dr. G. Rauf Roashan: governance and corruption, war and peace talks, the neighbours, and the country’s place between East and West.
Dr. G. Rauf Roashan
2014
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The Russians are Back in Afghanistan
In the past decade and a half we remained engaged in Afghanistan. What we did not do was a close and realistic observation of our engagement and investment in men and money into that…
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The Afghan-US Bilateral Security Agreement – Psychology of the Dilemma
The issue of the BSA has been in the news for so long. There have been analyses and commentaries on the subject. Many of these comments lacked a scrutiny of the psychology of the…
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US Aid Money and Afghanistan
In December 2001, the United States well aware of the fact that the establishment of a democratic system of government in Afghanistan would not come about free of cost, committed itself to providing financial…
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Karzai’s Pre-Lame Duck Attitude
Afghanistan is an important country, strategically located with huge untapped and priceless resources for an energy and raw materials hungry world. The world needs peace in Afghanistan and Afghanistan needs hel…
2013
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Why is Karzai Playing Hard?
A little over four months left in Karzai’s rule, he tries to show mettle. All along until recently Karzai was a tame team player. President Bush liked him a lot. President Obama liked him…
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Karzai who?
Afghanistan has entered into a phase in its life that is of utmost importance for its place in history and its immediate and far fledged future as well as meeting the needs of its…
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Pieces on the Chessboard
Every day brings us closer to April 2014, a month set for Afghanistan’s presidential elections. Friend and foe alike are interested to see what is in the making for this country that has lived…
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Under the Nose of the Son of Arab Kissinger – Is There a Chance for Successful Talks with Taliban
This article is an attempt to bring to fore important aspects of the issues related to the proposed talks among the Afghan government, Taliban and the US. Of special importance is the Pakistani stand…
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Corruptistan and its Corrupt Systems
This paper tries to throw some light on the Afghan government, its failure in corruption control, the historical background to the lack of an effective system to deal with the country’s problems and the…
2012
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On the Inauguration of the US-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission
Afghanistan and the United States have entered into an “Enduring Strategic Cooperation Agreement.” The agreement called for the establishment of a US-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission to work on details of implementation of the agreement. To…
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National Uprising Movement in Afghanistan
Reports from a number of central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan indicate establishment of a grassroots movement against Taliban’s tyranny. They further report successes achieved by the movement in a number of villages from…
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I Am Worried About Afghanistan
Should one be worried about Afghanistan’s situation beyond 2014? Why and why not? These are some interesting questions that need more than a commentary to explain. However this paper scratches the surface of the…
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Exercise in Puppeteering
Last week’s Berlin meeting of a group of warlords with an American law maker has stirred surprise and discussions on the interference of others in the affairs of Afghanistan. An interference that is illegal…
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What Would a Post-Karzai Afghanistan Look Like
By:Dr. G. Rauf Roashan Afghanistan watchers are wondering already what would be in the cards for Afghanistan when Nato and other international forces leave the country and when Karzai’s second term as president comes…
2011
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Afghan Jumanji – Wave after Wave of Invasions
From the perspective of a political observer it is so interesting to look at Afghanistan while you recall the fictitious Jumanji game as depicted in the film of the same name. The result of…
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Karzai Dealt His Own Cards But For a Good Cause
The signing of a strategic treaty with the United States is an issue of great importance and perhaps Karzai thought it was too big a decision for him to make by himself or together…
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There is Crossroads and there is the Silk Road
by Dr. G. Rauf Roashan Policy wise the US finds itself at an important crossroads when its conflict in Iraq comes to a definitive end and its desire to pull out of Afghanistan has…
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Indo-Afghan Proximity Drives Pakistan Away
Even before Indian independence in 1947 and the official recognition of Pakistan by Afghanistan, Indians looked at Afghanistan with awe and admiration. Earlier in 1919, King Amanullah of Afghanistan had managed to fight the…
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President or Prisoner
Complex, convoluted, mixed up, confused, upside down, checked and awaiting a mate could be some of the adjectives one could easily use in relation to the situations in Afghanistan. Situations that you would expect…
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Politically Charged Hot Issues
Perhaps in the beginning, Afghanistan was considered an easy, short term project where American and its allied troops could go in, clean up the country of all threats of terror, defeat centers of terror…
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Post US Forces Withdrawal
As expected the time has come that the United States is making its decision about withdrawing some of its troops from Afghanistan. While it would be a welcome step had there been a complete…
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Look at Iran
Is Iran a friend of Afghanistan? Iranian government says it is. Afghan government leaders tend to agree just for the sake of diplomacy while deep down they might think differently. It is true that…
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Is Pakistan a Good Neighbor?
Afghanistan is located between two governments on its east and west that claim they are her friends. Actually they are not. While the people in Pakistan and Iran have been friends of the Afghan…
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Imminence of Implosion
It is almost a decade that Afghans have waited for situations in their country to improve: security to be maintained, the war on terror fought and won by a coalition of international forces, the…
2010
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The Circus Manager and the Clowns
Another secret was exposed of the inefficiency of the Afghan Government. Karzai’s government has been talking to an imposter as the Taleban second in command. For months rumors had it that the Afghan government…
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Self-Deception of the Innocent
The blame game, hypocrisy and false claims for credit have become the law of the land in Afghanistan. Power, on the other hand, has corrupted the already corrupt system of government. All the powerful…
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Afghanistan: The Other Side of the Coin
The recent changing of the commander at the helm of the military operations of the United States showed the world that there are problems with our war on terror in Afghanistan. Could it be…
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In Search of Peace
The Consultative Peace Jirga in Kabul was a daring undertaking by the government of Afghanistan. Its resolution was praised by the United Nations as well as the US government. As is the case in…
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The Link
At this time that a flurry of activity is undertaken by the Afghan president Karzai, mending, confirming and expanding his relations with the West, a true economic development project namely extension of railway service…
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Multi-dimensional Peace Talks
President Karzai of Afghanistan plays a complex game of politics in deciding to talk peace with the insurgency. He should consider the many faces of the die before tossing them in this delicate and…
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From Here to London!
Abstract: The London Conference came and went. It gave President Karzai of Afghanistan green light to go on with some of his proposals. But there are many questions as to the practicality of those…
2009
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Afghanistan: The Reign of Confusion
As if under a spell, wherever you look, whichever you focus on in Afghanistan is drowned in confusion. Confusion prevails in government, in its all three branches, in its relationship with regional powers even…
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Joe Lieberman: How About Another War?
posted by John Nichols Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, who began openly and aggressively angling for a war with Iraq just weeks after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, and…
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What Next in Afghanistan
The country is at the threshold of a new era of either or both despair and hope. This is because Afghanistan has fast become a land of controversies. Everything that happens there is controversial…
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Stealing Money, Selling Heroin and Raping Boys
Stealing Money, Selling Heroin and Raping Boys — The Very Dark Side of the Afghan Occupation One reason Afghan villagers prefer dealing with the Taliban than govt. security forces is that the latter have…
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The Caravan of Peace
Frustration with the terrible conditions in Afghanistan has led to a proposal announced by Ariana Afghanistan TV to constitute a caravan of peace. This article takes a look at the proposal and discusses whether…
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A Taste of Power
Power seems to be addictive. Power also seems to drive the powerful crazy. Power has been shown to blind the powerful to see the reality, has turned them deaf to hearing the plight of…
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The Assassination of Democracy
The Afghan nation welcomed the decision to democratize Afghanistan in the face of the harsh medieval rule of the Taleban very early in the threshold of the 21st Century. Events at that time augmented…
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One Cow Many Butchers
Afghan politics are getting more complicated by the day. Governance in Afghanistan is in a crisis. Afghan politicians are confused, afraid and perplexed for a variety of reasons, some selfish others otherwise. The new…
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Afghanistan: Einstein for President
A Change of Emphasis in the US policy: (To end one war and win the other.) The Obama administration has from the outset expressed a serious interest in finding ways to end the war…
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Casinos of Politics
Political games are continuously played in our dog-eat-dog world. It is as if the” sin-city” is the world and the casinos, the countries in it. Open 24/7, they give the players, the politicians, several…
2008
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Demographic Changes, Employment and Social Security Issues of the Aged in South Asia
Afghanistan located in South Central Asian region has acquired an interesting venue for demographic studies. Thirty years of wars and instability coupled with an ongoing war on terror by a coalition of around forty…
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Killing in Distant Lands
Washington Post on August 28, 2008 carried an article titled: “Only a Two-Page ‘Note’ Governs U.S. Military in Afghanistan.” The title alone points to the complications that can arise when you carry out military…
2005
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Approaching the End of the Beginning
September 18, 2005 is set for parliamentary elections in Afghanistan. Long awaited democratic process preparation conclusion is in sight. With the culmination of this last step in democratic exercise, Afghanistan will officially join a…
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Islamic Caliphate: Myth or Reality
The Idea of Caliphate in Islam: Earlier in time around the seventh century, the Islamic world had taken the lead in sciences, philosophy, politics, government and propagation of institutions of education and learning in…
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Afghanistan: The Pashtun Factor
Afghanistan guarded the northwestern gates of the Indian subcontinent for more than two centuries of the British occupation of India. Yet when the British left and India attained its independence in 1947, Afghanistan was…
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Angry Karzai – Sad Karzai
Many followed with interest the latest trip of the Afghan President Karzai to Washington, who had openly expressed anger over the report of torture of Afghan citizens at the hands of the US military…
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Alienating the Hearts and Minds of the Muslims
When the United States was reportedly on a track leading to winning over the hearts and minds of the Muslims, the Newsweek report, still uncorroborated by other sources, shattered the notion. Yet it should…
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Invoking a Shadow Legislature
Politicking is an amusing game. More recently President Karzai has started to learn and experiment some of its intricacies it in his country. Some observers are of the opinion that he is learning the…
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Permanent Guests!
Of all the earthly games, politics seems to be the most amusing. The eyes of the beholder see strange things. They would see day at night and night in the daytime. And yet, the…
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Bye-bye Viceroy
Perhaps one man, Zalmay Khalilzad, stands out in Afghanistan’s recent history as a man who wielded real power and used it unabashedly to influence Afghan affairs in the field. Khalilzad was there when the…
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Walking the Political Tightrope
Regional politics in south-central Asia make a complicated maze for any politician and especially for Afghanistan’s newly emerging democracy’s leaders. One of the biggest functions of Afghanistan’s president who bears the banner of Afghan…
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Whose Priority
With Karzai’s position secured as the president and his cabinet selected, the nation looks forward to action. Karzai had promised action on the basis of recognized priorities. But the first priority he chose was…
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Peace without Justice
In matters of history, nations behave as individuals. Nations have collective memories. Nations have collective feelings and emotions. Nations have collective pride, collective aspirations and collective dignity. Nations prosper during peace and suffer during…
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Karzai and Triple Ms
Where is the manpower? No development is possible without people, professional and otherwise behind it. Afghanistan was short of qualified personnel even long before it fell into the abyss of chaos, war and destruction…
2003
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Can Karzai Control Afghanistan?
Browsing through the internet late last week, I came across an article by Malcolm Garcia of the Kansas City Star which said of Karzai, the president of all Afghanistan that “although it has been…
Undated
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Come December We...
Literally, there are hundreds of things the Afghan government has not done and there are hundreds more that it has done in a wrong way. Apparently, people in government faced with the hard realities…
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The Naivete of the Uninitiated – Afghanistan is not kid’s play
There is a need for mature politics and mature politicians to work hard to find a realistic solution to the complex Afghan dilemma. Has any one done any serious work on removing many of…