Abstract
During the period in which the ‘Understanding Afghanistan’ engagement was ongoing (April to August 2008), the British military suffered some of its greatest losses, measured in the number of casualties, within Afghanistan since the start of the international intervention in late 2001. This fact, accompanied by the tragic loss of scores of Afghan civilians during the same interval, highlights ever more strongly the need for a holistic understanding of Afghanistan – as a country, an economy, a polity, a society and a zone of frequent international interventionism– in order to identify the most effective manner in which to intervene in the cycles of national, regional and global conflict which have affected it for much of the past 30 years.
The ‘Understanding Afghanistan’ research project consists of four main studies: (i) a Political Economy Analysis, (ii) a Strategic Conflict Assessment, (iii) a Growth Diagnostic and, (iv) a Poverty, Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis. Combined, they present one of the few initiatives that have sought to consolidate information pertaining to contemporary Afghanistan as a whole. Their main arguments and findings are brought together and streamlined within this report. Given the diversity of the sectors being explored, the methods employed and the findings arrived at, this document should be understood not as the sum of its parts but, rather, as a useful tool for analysing the linkages between the different ‘Understanding Afghanistan’ outputs. References are constantly made to the component reports, and further details, explanations and findings should be sought from within them where this document, due to its brevity, is unable to reflect their totality and depth. Furthermore, it should be noted that, while this report captures a snapshot of Afghanistan at the time of its writing, the highly dynamic situation will require constant analysis and a continuous updating of studies such as ‘Understanding Afghanistan’.
This Synthesis Report begins with a brief description, in Section 2, of the methodologies and conceptual frameworks employed within ‘Understanding Afghanistan’. It then turns, in Section 3, to a discussion of the contemporary and historical context which have ‘set the stage’ for all developments and interventions that have taken place in Afghanistan since 2001. This contextual analysis includes a discussion of the multiple ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, which are then further explored – as regards their participants, objectives, motives and financing – in Section 4. Sections 5 and 6, respectively, review the current statuses of state building and economic development in order to understand how limited progress in these areas has hindered the pursuit of stability. Social exclusion and the constraints to inclusion and equity, particularly as related to women, the chronically poor and the disabled, among others, is the focus of Section 7. Finally, policy options for improving interventions in each of these sectors – conflict, governance, economic development and social exclusion – are offered in Section 8 prior to a conclusion in Section 9. In sum, these various sections review where Afghanistan currently stands and how, after nearly seven years of external assistance and internal efforts, conflict has intensified, the State has failed to gain widespread legitimacy, the economy has deteriorated and social exclusion has continued.
The ‘Understanding Afghanistan’ research project consists of four main studies: (i) a Political Economy Analysis, (ii) a Strategic Conflict Assessment, (iii) a Growth Diagnostic and, (iv) a Poverty, Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis. Combined, they present one of the few initiatives that have sought to consolidate information pertaining to contemporary Afghanistan as a whole. Their main arguments and findings are brought together and streamlined within this report. Given the diversity of the sectors being explored, the methods employed and the findings arrived at, this document should be understood not as the sum of its parts but, rather, as a useful tool for analysing the linkages between the different ‘Understanding Afghanistan’ outputs. References are constantly made to the component reports, and further details, explanations and findings should be sought from within them where this document, due to its brevity, is unable to reflect their totality and depth. Furthermore, it should be noted that, while this report captures a snapshot of Afghanistan at the time of its writing, the highly dynamic situation will require constant analysis and a continuous updating of studies such as ‘Understanding Afghanistan’.
This Synthesis Report begins with a brief description, in Section 2, of the methodologies and conceptual frameworks employed within ‘Understanding Afghanistan’. It then turns, in Section 3, to a discussion of the contemporary and historical context which have ‘set the stage’ for all developments and interventions that have taken place in Afghanistan since 2001. This contextual analysis includes a discussion of the multiple ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan, which are then further explored – as regards their participants, objectives, motives and financing – in Section 4. Sections 5 and 6, respectively, review the current statuses of state building and economic development in order to understand how limited progress in these areas has hindered the pursuit of stability. Social exclusion and the constraints to inclusion and equity, particularly as related to women, the chronically poor and the disabled, among others, is the focus of Section 7. Finally, policy options for improving interventions in each of these sectors – conflict, governance, economic development and social exclusion – are offered in Section 8 prior to a conclusion in Section 9. In sum, these various sections review where Afghanistan currently stands and how, after nearly seven years of external assistance and internal efforts, conflict has intensified, the State has failed to gain widespread legitimacy, the economy has deteriorated and social exclusion has continued.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |