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Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban
Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban A thesis submitted to the Miami University Honors Program in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for University Honors with Distinction by, Brandon Smith May 2005 Oxford, OH ABSTRACT AFGHANISTAN, 1989-1996: BETWEEN THE SOVIETS AND THE TALIBAN by, BRANDON SMITH This paper examines why the Afghan resistance fighters from the war against the Soviets, the mujahideen, were unable to establish a government in the time period between the withdrawal of the Soviet army from Afghanistan in 1989 and the consolidation of power by the Taliban in 1996. A number of conflicting explanations exist regarding Afghanistan’s instability during this time period. This paper argues that the developments in Afghanistan from 1989 to 1996 can be linked to the influence of actors outside Afghanistan, but not to the extent that the choices and actions of individual actors can be overlooked or ignored. Further, the choices and actions of individual actors need not be explained in terms of ancient animosities or historic tendencies, but rather were calculated moves to secure power. In support of this argument, international, national, and individual level factors are examined. ii Afghanistan, 1989-1996: Between the Soviets and the Taliban by, Brandon Smith Approved by: _________________________, Advisor Karen L. Dawisha _________________________, Reader John M. Rothgeb, Jr. _________________________, Reader Homayun Sidky Accepted by: ________________________, Director, University Honors Program iii Thanks to Karen Dawisha for her guidance and willingness to help on her year off, and to John Rothgeb and Homayun Sidky for taking the time to read the final draft and offer their feedback. -
Afghanistan State Structure and Security Forces
European Asylum Support Office Afghanistan State Structure and Security Forces Country of Origin Information Report August 2020 SUPPORT IS OUR MISSION European Asylum Support Office Afghanistan State Structure and Security Forces Country of Origin Information Report August 2020 More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). ISBN: 978-92-9485-650-0 doi: 10.2847/115002 BZ-02-20-565-EN-N © European Asylum Support Office (EASO) 2020 Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged, unless otherwise stated. For third-party materials reproduced in this publication, reference is made to the copyrights statements of the respective third parties. Cover photo: © Al Jazeera English, Helmand, Afghanistan 3 November 2012, url CC BY-SA 2.0 Taliban On the Doorstep: Afghan soldiers from 215 Corps take aim at Taliban insurgents. 4 — AFGHANISTAN: STATE STRUCTURE AND SECURITY FORCES - EASO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION REPORT Acknowledgements This report was drafted by the European Asylum Support Office COI Sector. The following national asylum and migration department contributed by reviewing this report: The Netherlands, Office for Country Information and Language Analysis, Ministry of Justice It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations contributes to the overall quality of the report, it but does not necessarily imply their formal endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EASO. AFGHANISTAN: STATE STRUCTURE AND SECURITY -
RC Approves DKA Basic Principles
1 VOL. XVIH, NO. 22 TUESDAY, APRIL, 15, 1980 (IIAMAL, 26, 1359, A.II.) Price Afs. 6 RC Approves DKA Basic Principles HI: tell" 1 fllllfllffift -1 ; ,.- V V. .. M'4m& film 4' Babrak Karmal, General Secretary of PDPA CC, President of RC and Prime Minister addressing the RC meeting. KABUL, April 15, (Bak-htar- ). The great and hi- storic meeting of the Rev- olutionary Council of the Kurmul's message passed Karmal Afghan-Sovi- et Youth Friendship Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was held at RC headquarters yesterday to Kabul Hindus, Sikhs Greeted . by Park to be built in Kabul afternoon under the cha- irmanship of Babrak Ka- KABUL, April 15, (Bakhtar). Cong- KABUL, April 15, (Bakhtar). In order to further consolidate frien- Secretary Organisation for Afghan Youth and the rmal, General ratulations and sincere wishes of Babrak Kar- Cea usescu dship between the Democratic of PDPA CC, President Soviet Komsomol, a memorial friendship park is being built in Kabul to PDPA CC, Pre- of RC and Prime Minis- mal, General Secretary of the KABUL, April 15, (Ba- be called the Friendship Park of Afghan and Soviet Youth on a 138 acre ter of DBA. At this meet- sident' of RC and Prime Minister, leading khtar). According to plot along the Darulaman Avenue. ing the DBA Basic Princi- members of the DRA Party and government Information Department ples were unanimously ap- were conveyed yesterday by Information and of the Ministry of Foreign proved in an atmosphere, Culture Minister to Hindu and Sikh compat- Affairs, a message sent to of sincerity and solidar- Babrak Karmal, General a 1 ity. -
Afghan Internationalism and the Question of Afghanistan's Political Legitimacy
This is a repository copy of Afghan internationalism and the question of Afghanistan's political legitimacy. White Rose Research Online URL for this paper: http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/126847/ Version: Accepted Version Article: Leake, E orcid.org/0000-0003-1277-580X (2018) Afghan internationalism and the question of Afghanistan's political legitimacy. Afghanistan, 1 (1). pp. 68-94. ISSN 2399-357X https://doi.org/10.3366/afg.2018.0006 This article is protected by copyright. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Edinburgh University Press on behalf of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies in "Afghanistan". Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. Reuse Items deposited in White Rose Research Online are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved unless indicated otherwise. They may be downloaded and/or printed for private study, or other acts as permitted by national copyright laws. The publisher or other rights holders may allow further reproduction and re-use of the full text version. This is indicated by the licence information on the White Rose Research Online record for the item. Takedown If you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing [email protected] including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. [email protected] https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Afghan internationalism and the question of Afghanistan’s political legitimacy1 Abstract This article uses Afghan engagement with twentieth-century international politics to reflect on the fluctuating nature of Afghan statehood and citizenship, with a particular focus on Afghanistan’s political ‘revolutions’ in 1973 and 1978. -
Week 7: Military Action II: the Bad and Ugly
Week 7: Military Action II: The Bad and Ugly Afghanistan Afghanistan was a feudal/pastoral monarchy before 1973 Mohammed Zahir Shah, last king of Afghanistan King Zahir overthrown by Daoud in 1973 Daoud overthrown and killed by communist PDPA in 1978 New President: Nur Muhammad Taraki of PDPA Khalq faction ...Taraki overthrown and killed by Hafizullah Amin in 1979. Radical reforms lead to insurgency Soviets invade, assassinate Amin, install Babrak Karmal (Parcham) Why did the Soviets invade? Why did the Soviets invade? ● Oil? ● Domino Theory? ● Bureaucratic Isolation ● Iron Curtain intervention? Insurgency intensifies, Soviets employ brutal tactics US funds and arms Afghan mujahedin Mujahedin were representative of Afghan society Gulbuddin Hekmatyar Ahmed Shah Massoud Peace Talks between Pakistan, Soviets and Afghans stall ● Soviets incur heavy casualties. ● Refugee crisis in Pakistan and Iran. ● Soviet leader turnover 1983-85. Gorbachev Takes Power in USSR ● Nationalist Muhammad Najibullah becomes Afghan President. ● Anti-insurgent operations shift to Afghan Army. Soviets withdrew in 1988 Why did the Soviets get involved in a quagmire? Why did the Soviets get involved in a quagmire? ● Continued Bureaucratic Isolation ● Factionalism in Soviet regime ● Misinformation from the ground ● Fear of rapid withdrawal Afghan Civil War continues after Soviets leave Najibullah overthrow in 1992; mujahedin fragment Taliban forms in 1994; captures most of the country Did US support for the mujahedin create the Taliban and bin Laden? Discussion Was the invasion strategically justified? What were the positive/negative effects? Alternative strategies? Next Week... Intervention and the End of the Cold War + Comprehensive Exam. -
Visual Propaganda in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan – Part 2
The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture. New Series 5 (1/2017): 67–87 [article] DOI: 10.4467/24506249PJ.17.004.6811 Visual Propaganda in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan – Part 2. Leading Role of the Party Mateusz M. Kłagisz Abstract In this article, a single poster of the Peopleʼs Democratic Party of Afgh- anistan is discussed. The starting point for the project is the statement that persuasion is more effective than compulsion and the fact that the Afghan communists did not find any formula to start an effective dia- logue with their society. The primary question for the article is: what kind of communication, and what sort of themes and motifs played a significant role in conveying revolutionary ideology aimed at a society where a majority, with political potential, could not read or write? Keywords: Party, masses, leading role, unity, cooperation Dr. Mateusz M. Kłagisz is an assistant professor at the Depart- ment of Iranian Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. His main area of research on Afghanistan includes the question of modern- isation and regression in twentieth-century Afghanistan, especially in the communist period (1978–1992). e-mail: [email protected] Kłagisz, Visual Propaganda… 68 Our party is our school / And our laughter / We are its guard / We follow its path / (…) / We are scouts / And we are equal / If you fight with the enemy / You are the scoutsʼ friend1 The article, as a continuation of a text published in20152, is part of a re- search project on the propaganda employed by the would-be Leninist gov- ernment represented by the Peopleʼs Democratic Party of Afghanistan (here- after: PDPA)3. -
Revolutionary Afghanistan Is No Exception
CONTENTS PREFACE 1. In Search of Hafizullah Amin 6 2. Three Revolutionaries 12 3. A House Divided: the PDPA, 1965-1973 25 4. The Making of a Revolution: the PDPA, 1973-1978 39 5. The Inheritance: Afghanistan, 1978 53 6. Strategy for Reform 88 7. The Eid Conspiracy 106 8. A Treaty and a Murder: Closing the American Option 120 9. The Question of Leadership 133 10. The Summer of Discontent 147 11. The End Game 166 12. ‘. And the People Remain’ 186 Select Bibliography 190 PREFACE PREFACE The idea for this book arose from a visit to Kabul in March 1979 when it became immediately obvious that what was happening in Afghanistan bore little relation to reports appearing in the Western media. Further research subsequently reinforced that impression. Much of the material on which the book is based was collected in the course of my 1979 field trip which took me to India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom as well as Afghanistan and during a follow-up trip to India and Pakistan from December 1980 to January 1981. Unfortunately by then times had changed and on this second occasion the Afghan government refused me a visa. Texts of speeches and statements by Afghan leaders and other Afghan government documents have for the most part been taken from the Kabul Times, since these are in effect the official version. I have however taken the liberty where necessary of adjusting the syntax of the Afghan translator. The problem of transliteration is inescapable, and at the risk of offending the purists I have chosen what appears to be the simplest spelling of Afghan names and have tried to be consistent. -
October 29, 1980 Soviet Briefing on the Talks Between Brezhnev and B. Karmal in Moscow
Digital Archive digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org International History Declassified October 29, 1980 Soviet briefing on the talks between Brezhnev and B. Karmal in Moscow Citation: “Soviet briefing on the talks between Brezhnev and B. Karmal in Moscow,” October 29, 1980, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, National Archives of Hungary (MOL), M-KS 288 f. 11/4391.o.e. Translated for CWIHP by Attila Kolontari and Zsofia Zelnik. http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/112500 Summary: This document reveals Babrak Karmal's positive views of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. Karmal thanks Soviet leadership for substantial economic and political support, discussing the integration of Soviet economic reforms into the Afghan economy. Karmal states that the turmoil within Afghan political parties is almost solved, and is progressing towards unity. Original Language: Hungarian Contents: English Translation HUNGARIAN SOCIALIST WORKERS' PARTY TOP SECRET! CENTRAL COMMITTEE FOREIGN DEPARTMENT BULLETIN On 28 October 1980, Comrade János Kádár received Comrade V. Pavlov - at his request -, who informed him in the name of the CPSU Central Committee about the talks carried on with Babrak Karmal, the secretary-general of the Afghan People's Democratic Party CC, the president of the Revolutionary Council of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, prime minister. "The main political achievements of the talks are reflected in the document signed by L. I. Brezhnev and B. Karmal, "The Declaration of the Soviet Union and the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan", which was published in the Soviet press on 20 October, and which our friends are already probably familiar with. We would like to give our friends the following complementary confidential information: B. -
The Road to Afghanistan
Introduction Hundreds of books—memoirs, histories, fiction, poetry, chronicles of military units, and journalistic essays—have been written about the Soviet war in Afghanistan. If the topic has not yet been entirely exhausted, it certainly has been very well documented. But what led up to the invasion? How was the decision to bring troops into Afghanistan made? What was the basis for the decision? Who opposed the intervention and who had the final word? And what kind of mystical country is this that lures, with an almost maniacal insistence, the most powerful world states into its snares? In the nineteenth and early twentieth century it was the British, in the 1980s it was the Soviet Union, and now America and its allies continue the legacy. Impoverished and incredibly backward Afghanistan, strange as it may seem, is not just a normal country. Due to its strategically important location in the center of Asia, the mountainous country has long been in the sights of more than its immediate neighbors. But woe to anyone who arrives there with weapon in hand, hoping for an easy gain—the barefoot and illiterate Afghans consistently bury the hopes of the strange foreign soldiers who arrive along with battalions of tanks and strategic bombers. To understand Afghanistan is to see into your own future. To comprehend what happened there, what happens there continually, is to avoid great tragedy. One of the critical moments in the modern history of Afghanistan is the period from April 27, 1978, when the “April Revolution” took place in Kabul and the leftist People’s Democratic Party seized control of the country, until December 27, 1979, when Soviet special forces, obeying their “international duty,” eliminated the ruling leader and installed 1 another leader of the same party in his place. -
Great Game to 9/11
Air Force Engaging the World Great Game to 9/11 A Concise History of Afghanistan’s International Relations Michael R. Rouland COVER Aerial view of a village in Farah Province, Afghanistan. Photo (2009) by MSst. Tracy L. DeMarco, USAF. Department of Defense. Great Game to 9/11 A Concise History of Afghanistan’s International Relations Michael R. Rouland Washington, D.C. 2014 ENGAGING THE WORLD The ENGAGING THE WORLD series focuses on U.S. involvement around the globe, primarily in the post-Cold War period. It includes peacekeeping and humanitarian missions as well as Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom—all missions in which the U.S. Air Force has been integrally involved. It will also document developments within the Air Force and the Department of Defense. GREAT GAME TO 9/11 GREAT GAME TO 9/11 was initially begun as an introduction for a larger work on U.S./coalition involvement in Afghanistan. It provides essential information for an understanding of how this isolated country has, over centuries, become a battleground for world powers. Although an overview, this study draws on primary- source material to present a detailed examination of U.S.-Afghan relations prior to Operation Enduring Freedom. Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Air Force, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. government. Cleared for public release. Contents INTRODUCTION The Razor’s Edge 1 ONE Origins of the Afghan State, the Great Game, and Afghan Nationalism 5 TWO Stasis and Modernization 15 THREE Early Relations with the United States 27 FOUR Afghanistan’s Soviet Shift and the U.S. -
Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan
University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Urban Studies Senior Seminar Papers Urban Studies Program 11-2009 Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan Benjamin Dubow University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar Dubow, Benjamin, "Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan" (2009). Urban Studies Senior Seminar Papers. 13. https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar/13 Suggested Citation: Benjamin Dubow. "Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan." University of Pennsylvania, Urban Studies Program. 2009. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/senior_seminar/13 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Ethnicity, Space, and Politics in Afghanistan Abstract The 2004 election was a disaster. For all the unity that could have come from 2001, the election results shattered any hope that the country had overcome its fractures. The winner needed to find a way to unite a country that could not be more divided. In Afghanistan’s Panjshir Province, runner-up Yunis Qanooni received 95.0% of the vote. In Paktia Province, incumbent Hamid Karzai received 95.9%. Those were only two of the seven provinces where more than 90% or more of the vote went to a single candidate. Two minor candidates who received less than a tenth of the total won 83% and 78% of the vote in their home provinces. For comparison, the most lopsided state in the 2004 United States was Wyoming, with 69% of the vote going to Bush. This means Wyoming voters were 1.8 times as likely to vote for Bush as were Massachusetts voters. Paktia voters were 120 times as likely to vote for Karzai as were Panjshir voters. -
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan The present Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was agreed upon by more than 500 delegates representing Afghan men and women from across the country at the Constitutional Loya Jirga (December 13, 2003 - January 4, 2004 ). The Constitution was formally ratified by President Hamid Karzai at a ceremony in Kabul on January 26, 2004. The full text of the Constitution may be found below. Note: this is an unofficial English translation of the Constitution. In any conflict between this and the original Dari / Pashto Constitution, the Dari / Pashto version shall take precedence. The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Ratified) January 26, 2004 In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful Praise be to Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of Worlds; and Praise and Peace be upon Mohammad, His Last Messenger and his disciples and followers We the people of Afghanistan: • Believing firmly in Almighty God, relying on His divine will and adhering to the Holy religion of Islam; • Realizing the previous injustices, miseries and innumerable disasters which have befallen our country; • Appreciating the sacrifices, historical struggles, jihad and just resistance of all the peoples of Afghanistan, admiring the supreme position of the martyr’s of the country’s freedom; • Comprehending that a united, indivisible Afghanistan belongs to all its tribes and peoples; • Observing the United Nations Charter