Afghanistan

Today, the situation in Afghanistan is mired with the geopolitics of regional and extra-regional players. Bringing stability to the country is a major challenge for the international community. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has the potential to play an important role, provided it is able to make some adjustments in its policy. Given its strengths and weaknesses, it is likely to focus more on economic, trade and security related issues within the Eurasian region rather than in Afghanistan.

• Meena Singh Roy
• July 2010
• Strategic Analysis

This paper seeks to understand the nature of cooperation between the UN and other IGOs in ongoing conflicts. It will examine the security framework in which these multilateral arrangements were created, the gaps they were trying to cover, and the problems and areas of opportunities.

• Mayank Bubna
• May 24, 2010
• Issue Brief

Afghanistan was a test case for our foreign policy resolve, an arena where while leveraging other tools of foreign policy, use of instruments of force and military diplomacy/intelligence should have been predominant.

• Raj Shukla
• April 02, 2010
• IDSA Comments

If Pakistan succumbs to American pressure, it will continue to be engaged in a long war of attrition on its western borders. If Pakistan resists American pressure, it will be isolated in the world and the international community will have to fall back upon India to put a firewall around the AfPak region.

• Sushant Sareen
• March 08, 2010
• IDSA Comments

US calculation in backing Pakistani designs for controlling Afghanistan will bring even greater dangers to its own doorsteps.

• D. Padma Kumar Pillay
• March 03, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The resumption of India-Pakistan dialogue is closely linked with US moves in Afghanistan in the context of Obama’s publicly declared intent to begin the process of US military withdrawal from Afghanistan from 2011.

• P. K. Upadhyay
• February 25, 2010
• IDSA Comments

The Dutch withdrawal from Afghanistan may have cascading effects, as smaller European countries notwithstanding their importance in contribution or numerical strength, may also announce their exit citing their own national caveats in the months to come.

• Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay
• February 23, 2010
• IDSA Comments

This is a good time for India to review its Afghan strategy taking into account increasing war weariness of the Western forces and President Karzai’s policy of reintegrating the ‘good Taliban’.

• Arvind Gupta
• February 01, 2010
• IDSA Comments

If India indeed considers itself to be a rising power, it cannot remain a passive in the face of instability all around it.

• Ramesh Phadke
• January 12, 2010
• IDSA Comments

Getting the hard core Taliban to concede the fight without loss of face is preferable to destroying them. The latter course is rendered risky by the linkages between the Afghan Taliban, Pakistani Taliban and Punjabi Taliban and their penetration of the Pakistani state and society.

• Ali Ahmed
• December 23, 2009
• Issue Brief