US Drug War Endangers Allied Soldiers
30 October 2007
Mark Dodd, 'US Drug War Endangers Diggers', The Australian, 31 October 2007.
"A US anti-narcotics program in Afghanistan has raised tensions, undermined security and endangered Australian and Dutch soldiers' lives, a respected international foreign policy think tank has warned.
The Senlis Council claims the US Government brushed aside Australian and Dutch concerns to ram through an ill-conceived poppy eradication program in Oruzgan...
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Private Military Contractors Also Creating Problems in Afghanistan
30 October 2007
Carl Robichaud, 'Private Military Contractors Also Creating Problems in Afghanistan', World Politics Review, 30 October 2007.
"After the Sept. 16 Blackwater scandal, which drew unprecedented attention to the role played by private security contractors (PSCs) in Iraq, these firms have increasingly come under scrutiny in other theaters of war, such as Afghanistan. But while efforts in Afghanistan to rein in PSCs seem to parallel those...
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Afghan Insurgency Fragmenting
30 October 2007
'', The Economist, 25 October 2007 [Subscription required]
"The [Afghan] insurgency now has more clearly the form of a single, loosely co-ordinated insurrection spanning western Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. NATO is publicly divided. The Taliban, too, are fragmented. Far from being the monolithic Islamists they were in 2001, they now span various groups with differing motivations....
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30 October 2007
Deniz Kandiyoti, 'Between the Hammer and the Anvil: Post-conflict Reconstruction, Islam and Women's Rights', Third World Quarterly, Volume 28, Issue 3 April 2007, pages 503 - 517.
ABSTRACT: "This paper argues that gender issues are becoming politicised in novel and counterproductive ways in contexts where armed interventions usher in new blueprints for governance and 'democratisation'. Using illustrations from constitutional and electoral...
Weak States, State Failure, and Terrorism
30 October 2007
Edward Newman, "Weak States, State Failure, and Terrorism", Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 19, Issue 4 December 2007 , pages 463 - 488. [Subscription Required]
ABSTRACT: "It is common to hear the assertion that weak or failed states are fertile ground for terrorism. Yet terrorist groups have emerged from, and operated within, countries which have strong, stable states and a variety of systems of government. Terrorist...
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Training Foreign Police: A Missing Aspect of U.S. Security Assistance to Counterinsurgency
30 October 2007
Walter C. Ladwig III, 'Training Foreign Police: A Missing Aspect of U.S. Security Assistance to Counterinsurgency', Comparative Strategy, Volume 26, Issue 4 July 2007, pages 285 - 293. [Subscription required]
ABSTRACT: "The lack of an institutional capacity and a legal authority to train foreign police forces is undercutting U.S. security assistance in the war on terror. From Iraq to Afghanistan to the Philippines, effective police...
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Karzai: Stop The Air Strikes
30 October 2007
'Karzai: Stop the Air Strikes', CBS News/60 Minutes, 28 October 2007.
"After six years, the liberation of Afghanistan has become a triumph without victory. The fighting is the greatest it has been since the beginning of the war and more civilians are dying. In fact, 60 Minutes was surprised to hear this: while the enemy has killed hundreds of civilians this year, a similar number of civilians have been killed by American forces. With...
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