Aspiration and Ambivalence: Strategies and Realities of Counterinsurgency and State-Building in Afghanistan
By Vanda Felbab-Brown and Bruce Riedel
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
After more than a decade of great effort and sacrifice by America and its allies, the Taliban still has not been defeated, and many Afghans believe that a civil war is coming. Aspiration and Ambivalence analyzes the U.S. and international efforts in Afghanistan and offers detailed recommendations for dealing with the precarious situation leading up to the 2014 transition to Afghan control and beyond. Vanda Felbab-Brown argues that allied efforts in Afghanistan have put far too little emphasis on good governance, concentrating too much on short-term military goals to the detriment of long-term peace and stability. The Western tendency to ally with bullies, warlords, smugglers, and other shady characters in pursuit of short-term military advantage actually empowers the forces working against good governance and long-term political stability. Rampant corruption and mafia rule thus persist, making it impossible for Afghans to believe in the institutional reforms and rule of law that are clearly necessary. This must change otherwise, the chances of building responsive and sustainable governmental structures are slim, indeed.
Felbab-Brown combines thorough research and analysis with vivid personal accounts of her time spent in the war-torn nationpowerful vignettes illustrating the Afghan aspirations for peace, stability, and sovereignty and the stubborn obstacles to securing them.
"The year 2014 will mark a critical juncture in Afghanistan's odyssey. After more than a decade of arduous fighting and political involvement, the U.S. and international presence there will be significantly reduced and circumscribed. Although the international community has committed itself not to abandon Afghanistan as it did in the 1990s, the onus will be on the Afghan government to provide for the security of the country, its economic development, and governance that attempts to meet the needs of the Afghan people. Difficult challenges, major unresolved questions, and worrisome trends surround all three sets of processes. The biggest hole in the U.S. strategy and international efforts to stabilize the country is the failure to adequately address the country's fractured and brittle political system and very poor governance."from Aspiration and Ambivalence
Vanda Felbab-Brown
Vanda Felbab-Brown is a senior fellow in the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings. She is also the director of the Brookings project “Improving Global Drug Policy: Comparative Perspectives and UNGASS 2016” and co-director of another Brookings project, “Reconstituting Local Orders.” She is an expert on international and internal conflicts and nontraditional security threats, including insurgency, organized crime, urban violence, and illicit economies.
Related to Aspiration and Ambivalence
Related ebooks
The War for Afghanistan: A Very Brief History: From Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Latest Longest War: Losing Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfghanistan Journal: Selections from Registan.net Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfghanistan: the Perfect Failure: A War Doomed by the Coalition's Strategies, Policies and Political Correctness Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfghanistan: Negotiating Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Kabul to Baghdad and Back: The U.S. at War in Afghanistan and Iraq Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPower Struggle Over Afghanistan: An Inside Look at What Went Wrong--and What We Can Do to Repair the Damage Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Failed States: The Need for a Realistic Transition in Afghanistan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGovern Like Us: U.S. Expectations of Poor Countries Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCounterinsurgency In Eastern Afghanistan 2004-2008: A Civilian Perspective Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnother Century of War? Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5What on Earth is Going On?: A Crash Course in Current Affairs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hopeless but Optimistic: Journeying through America's Endless War in Afghanistan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolution and Aftermath: Forging a New Strategy toward Iran Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDelivering Osama: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5U.S. Foreign Policy and Muslim Women's Human Rights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5America: From revolution to the present day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Paladin Principle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArms of Little Value: The Challenge of Insurgency and Global Instability in the Twenty-First Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIran: An Imperialist Republic and U.S. Policy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Afghanistan Papers: A Secret History of the War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counter Jihad: America's Military Experience in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Gatekeeper Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAfghanistan Graveyard of Empires Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalking the Precipice: Witness to the Rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Afghanistan Declassified: A Guide to America's Longest War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Afghanistan - The Battered Land Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPaved with Good Intentions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Comrades and the Mullahs: China, Afghanistan and the New Asian Geopolitics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStates and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control - Second Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Capitalism and Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on the U.S.-Israeli War on the Palestinians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race: The Sunday Times Bestseller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Essential Chomsky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The U.S. Constitution with The Declaration of Independence and The Articles of Confederation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Awakening: Defeating the Globalists and Launching the Next Great Renaissance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Spook Who Sat by the Door, Second Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Aspiration and Ambivalence
0 ratings0 reviews