Remember Afghanistan? A glass half full, on the Titanic

World Policy Journal

Volumn 23, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 17-24

  Robichaud, Carl ^a  

^a Century Foundation   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33744719077     PISSN: 07402775     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/07402775-2006-2002     Document Type: Review

References (25)

1. N. C. Aizenman, "Fighting a Hard, Half-Forgotten War," Washington Post, June 22, 2005.
2. Interview with Larry Sampler, March 17, 2006. The later quote is also from this interview.
3. James T. Quinlivan, "Force Requirements in Security Operations," Parameters, vol. 25 (winter 1995-96), pp. 59-69;
4. James Dobbins, America's Role in Nation-building: From Germany to Iraq (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2003);
5. James Dobbins, The UN's Role in Nation-building: From the Congo to Iraq (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005),
6. cited in Seth G. Jones, "Averting Failure in Afghanistan," Survival, vol. 48 (spring 2006), pp. 111-28.
7. Dobbins, UN's Role in Nation-building.
8. Greg Miller, "U.S. Official Says Taliban Is on the Rise," Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2006.
9. James Dobbins, "NATO's Role in Nation-building," NATO Review, summer 2005.
10. "American Attitudes toward National Security, Foreign Policy and the War on Terror," Security and Peace Initiative, April 13, 2005.
11. Daniel Kaufmann, Aart Kraay, and Massimo Mastruzzi, Governance Matters IV: Governance Indicators for 1996-2004 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2005).
12. Total funding for "Foreign and Diplomatic Funds, FY2001-FY2005" which encompasses these categories, was $5.7 billion. See Amy Belasco, "The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan and Enhanced Base Security Since 9/11" (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, October 3, 2005), p. 14.
13. "Coalition Military Fatalities by Year: Operation Enduring Freedom," http://icasualties.org/oef;
14. "U.S. Official Says Taliban Is on the Rise," Los Angeles Times, March 1, 2006;
15. Carl Robichaud "Iraq to Afghanistan: Afghan Jihadists Adopt Iraq Tactics," Afghanistan Watch, The Century Foundation (New York), November 13, 2005, at www.afghanistanwatch.org.
16. The insurgency is multifaceted and differs by region. On the southeast border there is closer Taliban and al-Qaeda collaboration; further north, Gulbeddin Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami forces are supported by al-Qaeda. Interview with Barnett R. Rubin, Center for International Cooperation, New York University, March 7, 2006.
17. According to the Brooking Institution's "Afghanistan Index," the estimated size of the insurgency ranges between 2,000 and 10,000 fighters.
18. Ashraf Ghani, "Rebuilding Afghanistan," Global Agenda Magazine, 2004 ed., http://www.globalagendamagazine.com/2004/ashrafghani.asp.
19. Uganda doubled its tax revenue/GDP ratio from 6 percent to around 12 percent in the late 1990s; Rwanda tripled its ratio from 4 percent in 1994 to 12 percent in 2002. See World Bank, "Afghanistan: Managing Public Finances for Development," Main Report, (vol. 1), December 22, 2005.
20. Seth G. Jones, Jeremy Wilson, Andrew Rathmell, and Jack Riley, Establishing Law and Order after Conflict (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2005);
21. Dobbins, America's Role in Nation-building;
22. Dobbins, idem, UN's Role in Nation-building.
23. A joint Government of Afghanistan/World Bank study estimated total needs at $27.5 billion over seven years ("Securing Afghanistan's Future: Accomplishments and the Strategic Path Forward," March 17, 2004). Data on "initiated" and "completed" projects drawn from Barnett Rubin, Hamayun Hamidzada, and Abby Stoddard, Afghanistan 2005 and Beyond (The Hague: Clingendael Institute, April 2005), p. 62.
24. As Barnett Rubin notes, last year's drop was almost entirely attributable to a 96 percent decrease in cultivation in a single province: Nangahar. Farm ers there were disappointed when promises of substantial assistance never came through, and this year they reverted to growing poppy ("Afghanistan at a Crossroads," Roundtable Report, The Century Foundation, December 7, 2005).
25. See United States Institute of Peace, "Establishing the Rule of Law in Afghanistan," special report no. 117, March 2004.