http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/keyword/afghanistan Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. en-us Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:45:49 -0400 Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:45:49 -0400 http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1057/corruption-and-graft-in-post-conflict-afghanistan By Parag R. Dharmavarapu - With the departure of international forces and the exit of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan has entered a new age. While Afghanistan’s GDP has quintupled to $20 billion since 2002, the war-torn country remains one of the world’s most impoverished, insecure and corrupt nations. The poverty rate has remained close to 36% since 2012 and Transparency International ranked Afghanistan as the world’s third most corrupt nation in 2014 ("World Development Indicators ," 2014; “Corruption by Country/Territory,” 2014). Fully 61% of people polled reported paying a bribe, and 34% of them... Wed, 22 Jul 2015 04:59 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1057/corruption-and-graft-in-post-conflict-afghanistan http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1067/britains-4th-afghan-war By Michael Clarke - British troops will be winding up their operations in Afghanistan by the end of next year. There may be other specialised things British troops will do thereafter, depending on what happens in Afghanistan from 2015. But sustained ‘combat operations’ for British forces have already ended and the 9,000 British troops in Helmand will begin pulling out from the beginning of 2014. By Christmas they should all be gone. They have been there in various ways since the autumn of 2001, so the country is winding down a commitment that has spanned a full 13 years. Many observers will be taking... Thu, 01 Jan 2015 07:58 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1067/britains-4th-afghan-war http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1071/access-to-education-for-girls-in-the-rural-regions-of-afghanistan-following-the-fall-of-the-taliban By Innes Leighton - At present, ‘more than 80 percent of Afghan women are illiterate’.1 However, in the rural regions of Afghanistan, where more than 74 percent of the population lives, the illiteracy rate of females is closer to 93 percent.2 Following the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 1919, ‘successive Afghan governments have used women or the idea of women, as pawns for political legitimization.’3 This manipulation resulted in significantly divergent swings in attitudes towards the presence of Afghan women and girls in public life. This report will focus specifically... Thu, 01 Jan 2015 07:58 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1071/access-to-education-for-girls-in-the-rural-regions-of-afghanistan-following-the-fall-of-the-taliban http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/886/talking-to-terrorists-facilitating-dialogue-with-the-afghan-taliban By T M - Section 2 analyses the current state of the conflict and places the conflict and its parties in the broader historical context. It explains Afghanistan’s lack of strong central government, and why areas beyond Kabul have traditionally been under the authority of local strongmen or tribes, who fought each other unless external threats existed.[3] We seek to evaluate whether the Taliban can be constructively involved instead of applying the ‘terrorist’ label.[4] Labeling this prominent insurgency group as such pre-emptively excludes such actors rather than seeing them as potential... Wed, 09 Apr 2014 01:44 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/886/talking-to-terrorists-facilitating-dialogue-with-the-afghan-taliban http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1601/vision-to-product-inconsistencies-in-theories-used-in-failed-peacebuilding-programs By Rick Bartoldus - This paper identifies and provides an initial analysis of the problem of mismatched theories in peacebuilding programs. This problem occurs when a project is developed by a group that subscribes to one theory of peacebuilding, but is then executed by a group that subscribes to a different theory. A single case study is chosen in order to analyze both the occurrence of the problem and its effects. The Afghan Civilian Assistance Program (ACAP) follows the simple formula of finding Afghan civilians adversely affected by conflict and offering assistance in order to help them rebuild their lives. The... Tue, 31 Dec 2013 12:00 EST http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1601/vision-to-product-inconsistencies-in-theories-used-in-failed-peacebuilding-programs http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/685/private-security-contractors-in-afghanistan-as-third-party-propagators-categorizing-the-participation-of-private-security-companies By Asad L. Asad - A public good is defined as a product or service that is both non-rival and non-excludable, meaning that one cannot withhold it from another without precluding all others from benefitting from it as well.[1] Examples of such products have come to be typified by air (for breathing), public access television, and national defense. In spite of the public nature of these services, the third good in the series—national defense—has become increasingly privatized in recent years, as state actors find themselves looking for alternatives to heighten their military strength.[2] In the face of... Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:05 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/685/private-security-contractors-in-afghanistan-as-third-party-propagators-categorizing-the-participation-of-private-security-companies http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/637/day-of-destruction-decade-of-war-how-photographs-justified-the-war-on-terror By Tonei Glavinic - For many Americans, the date September 11, 2001 carries more weight than any other date in our nation’s history. It marks the beginning of a rapid sea change in American politics, and the start of a series of wars in foreign countries that we are still embroiled in ten years later. Yet something few think about at this point is why this attack happened, and how these wars got started. For most people, recalling the images of the burning World Trade Center is all the explanation they need for why we are still at war with Iraq. Those images, which dominated the covers of the world’s... Tue, 01 May 2012 01:42 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/637/day-of-destruction-decade-of-war-how-photographs-justified-the-war-on-terror http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1252/obama-and-afghanistan By James Goldgeier - In his campaign for the American presidency, Barack Obama emphasized the “right war” in Afghanistan in order both to highlight the folly of the “wrong war” in Iraq and to establish that he was not against all wars – just “dumb” ones.1 Al Qaeda’s safe haven in Afghanistan prior to September 11, 2001 produced the plans and personnel that led to the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, argued Obama, the George W. Bush administration distracted itself from the job of eliminating al Qaeda by bungling its way into Iraq. Emboldened... Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1252/obama-and-afghanistan http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1259/influence-operations-as-counterinsurgency-a-strategy-of-divisiveness By Sam Worby - Since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, U.S. and coalition forces have found it difficult to win the "hearts and minds" of the civilian population. Like many other invading forces of the last half-century, the U.S. has found itself fighting an unmarked, non-state, and highly adaptable foe: the insurgent. Central to counterinsurgency doctrine (COIN) is the concept of winning the "hearts and minds" of the civilian population. Insurgencies derive their power from popular support. A powerful insurgency or counterinsurgency, therefore, has a firm grip on the hearts and minds of... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1259/influence-operations-as-counterinsurgency-a-strategy-of-divisiveness http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1260/singing-in-the-wilderness-kuchi-nomads-in-modern-afghanistan By Michelle Ker - The word kuchi conjures up a romantic but ultimately anachronistic lifestyle—tattooed women in red and gold embroidered dresses and men riding alongside flocks of goat and sheep; the reality, however, differs starkly. The past two decades of armed conflict, poverty and socioeconomic change have had a profound impact on Afghanistan's kuchi nomads, and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) have identified them as one of the country's largest vulnerable populations.1 In contemporary academia, though, there has been a dearth of literature that links issues particularly... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1260/singing-in-the-wilderness-kuchi-nomads-in-modern-afghanistan http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1263/natos-dilemma-asset-specificity-and-the-challenge-of-securing-afghanistan By Safwan B. Shabab - On the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's founding, Afghanistan provides a unique opportunity for the alliance to prove its strength beyond Europe and combat global security threats from terrorism and instability.2 But despite proving its early critics such as John Mearsheimer wrong during the 1990s, NATO's credibility is once again on the line – Afghanistan is proving to be a difficult test of the alliance's political will and military capabilities.3 NATO's mission – the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) has been marred by a lack of collective... Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:00 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1263/natos-dilemma-asset-specificity-and-the-challenge-of-securing-afghanistan http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/3/can-the-us-win-the-war-in-afghanistan By David Pierce - Nearly eight years into the war, the security situation in Afghanistan appears to be deteriorating at an increasingly fast past. Areas that were previously secured have been retaken by militants; significant increases in civilian casualties, caused primarily by U.S.-led attacks, have fostered a growing resentment within the civilian population towards U.S. policy in the region; the Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai, effectively controls only the capital city of Kabul, while rampant corruption leaves the population disaffected and unenthused; and ongoing challenges continue to grow... Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:44 EDT http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/3/can-the-us-win-the-war-in-afghanistan