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A quasi-idiomatic expression 'women have to prove themselves' reflects various performance pressures and heightened visibility of women functioning in gendered professional spaces as advocated by tokenism theory. It is an example of how discriminatory practice – according to which competent and qualified women entering the culturally masculine professions are explicitly and implicitly expected to work harder for any recognition – gets discoursed in language and becomes a "rhetorically powerful form of talk" (Kitzinger 2000: 124). This paper explores the question: what is it that U.S. servicewomen functioning in the culturally hypermasculine space need to do to prove themselves? To this end, qualitative semi-structured interviews with women veterans of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are qualitatively scrutinized with the methods of discourse analysis and conversation analysis to 1) identify practices that U.S. servicewomen engage in to symbolically (re-)claim their place and status in the military, i.e., to prove they belong; 2) find out how the talk around proving emerged in the course of the conversation and how it was further interactionally sustained and/or dealt with in talk-in-interaction. The findings of the micro-level analysis – interpreted through the lenses of tokenism and the category of the 'honorary man' – reveal women's complex and nuanced struggle to fit and find acceptance in the military culture of hypermasculinity. They also re-engage with the ideas of tokenism by demonstrating that various acts of proving, reflecting women's token status, may concurrently and paradoxically be a means to earn honorary man status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following its independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan inherited territorial disputes with Afghanistan and India. The conflicts over the Durand Line demarcation and Pashtunistan became guiding factors in Afghanistan's opposition to Pakistan's membership of the United Nations. Since then, relations have been more conflictual than cooperative. The nature of the bilateral relationship has been overshadowed by mutual mistrust, despite the two nations' cultural links and Pakistan being home to the world's largest number of Afghan refugees. This article employs trust theory to explain why the two states continue to have less cooperative, more conflictual relations. Based on the analysis, this paper accepts that bilateral interactions between the two states are dominated more by the long legacy of mistrust than by a perceived need for cooperation, but argues that they act more "rationally" when they interact with each other in negotiations involving other countries (e.g., trustworthy hegemons), whether in connection with trade or security matters. This article argues that the manifestations of strategic trust in multi-party negotiations are largely due to the fear of losing enormous economic and geopolitical benefits from other actors, such as China and India, in case of non-cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afghanistan was among the lowest ranking countries worldwide in the United Nations Development Programme 2018 Gender Inequality Index, ranking 168 out of 189. Amnesty International, Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission have all reported a rise in gender-based violence against women by both State and non-State actors. Afghanistan is party to several international human rights instruments, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, under which the State is obligated to eradicate all types of discrimination, violence and other potential detrimental practices against women. Moreover, under the due diligence standard, States are urged to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women. This paper addresses the issue whether Afghanistan has met its international obligations to eliminate violence against women using the due diligence standard. It identifies the dismal shape of the current regulatory, institutional and policy frameworks concerning the elimination of violence against women in Afghanistan. This article concludes that Afghanistan has failed to protect women, potentially leading to a breach of its obligations under international law and proposes certain recommendation to improve the plight of Afghan women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the actions taken by stakeholders following the United States’ alleged intention for a full troop drawdown from Afghanistan, which drew regional and international attention, thus facilitating a negotiating framework for attaining an Afghan peace agreement. Taliban Movement is the main player in brokering a political resolution to end the Afghan war, but, at domestic level, the negotiating forum needs to embody Afghan government officials and civil society minority representatives. A comprehensive and lasting Afghan peace pact demands the implication of external stakeholders which have contributed to the peace talks by orchestrating consultative summits or persuading specific actors to step into peace debates. The paper will endeavour to outline the geopolitical interests held by these players within Afghanistan and the Central Asian region, all of them struggling to entirely preserve and expand them to their advantage. Thus, it is difficult to reach a robust Afghan peace deal that satisfies all sides [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this paper, the author develops a game theoretical model to understand why Union Government of India, as a third party, has used different schemes at different times in history to assist the State Governments in fighting the Naxalite insurgency. Comparing across schemes, it was found that though Matching Security Grants scheme was preferred in general, during asymmetric information scenario it led to an emergency situation wherein the Union Government had to provide the less preferred Bulk Security Grants. Later, it became difficult to withdraw these grants as the State Governments free rode by reducing own security contribution. The author finds that instead, in this scenario, Matching Development Grants are more suitable, as they incentivize the State Governments to reveal private information and help the Union Government exit its third-party role. For a practitioner involved in conflict resolution, these conclusions imply that as the desirability of policies can change diametrically overtime, Union Government must spend resources only on those heads of expenditure that provide both security and development benefits provided they aid in preventing flow of resources to Naxalites. Further, to end its assistance, the Union Government's expenditures should also complement the capabilities of the State Government rather than substituting them. These results can also guide policy in other protracted civil wars with substantial third-party intervention, which are common these days. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is an historical analysis of strategies used by Union and State Governments and Naxalites. The analysis is based on game theoretic tools supported with examples. Findings: The Union Government must provide matching grants instead of bulk grants such as Central Armed Police Forces, and the grants should be aimed at building complementarities with the state governments' security contributions. Under asymmetric information scenario, the Union and State Governments reduce their expenses incurred to fight the Naxalites. A Matching Development Grants scheme would have done better. Union Government must spend resources on heads of expenditure that provides both Development and Security benefits, to curb flow of resources to Naxalites, besides complementing the Security Contributions of the State Government. Research limitations/implications: The research is limited by disaggregated data to test the hypotheses. It is also limited by the data on hidden variables like the contribution of the Naxalites to fighting. The research is also limited to the extent that individual groups in the war like police commanders, politicians and Naxalite commanders are not incorporated. Multiple asymmetric parties are also not considered; that may generalize the model to other theaters of insurgency. Practical implications: Certain heads of expenditure such as roads, mobile communication, improving quality of investigation, preventing human rights violations by the security forces, etc. are both security and development enhancing. The Union Government's expenditures must be directed toward this end. Therefore, from a practitioner's perspective, the debate between greed and grievances exists not as a limitation but as a guide. The relevant articles of Constitution of India must be redrafted on these principles. Third-party interventions in other insurgencies may be revisited under these conclusions. Social implications: Security and Development policies are tools for controlling Naxalite insurgency, which can also be used to prevent flow of resources to Naxalites. Security and development policies to resolving insurgencies are useful at different information scenarios. Therefore, information neutral policies should be preferred. Originality/value: This paper has contributed theoretically in modeling continuing conflicts like Naxalite insurgency, explicitly. The author also shows that though the field of civil wars may have evolved along the Greed vs Grievance debate (Collier and Hoeffler, 2004), for a practitioner, the lines blur when it comes to solutions, as many heads of expenditures have features of both security and development. This paper also shows that when the Union Government faced asymmetric information scenario, the policy of matching development grants would be beneficial in long run though of limited value in short run. This is an important conclusion as the most intense period of violence was preceded by the asymmetric information scenario. Besides, it has relevance for the other civil wars with third-party intervention, such as NATO in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's reactive foreign policy attitudes and actions negate (or seem contradictory to) the core principle of realist paradigm, which says that intentions may vary independently without having any influential peer-pressure. Holistically, the critical analysis of Pakistan's foreign policy history exhibits that this country always chooses to pursue a reactive policy rather than proactive one. The best and recent example is Pakistan's dealing with Afghanistan problem since 9/11. This study uses archival evidence of long-simmering tensions about the continuing Afghanistan War and its unexpected consequences of Pakistan's policy decision to examine hypotheses derived from Barry Buzan's Regional Security Complex Theory. This paper aims to make the following inquiries: (1) how did Pakistan react in the response to U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and its War on Terror? (2) What have been the factors implicating Pakistan in Afghanistan War? (3) Why has Pakistan been failed in designing a proactive policy to prevent the challenges surfaced from enduring Afghan conflict and pose the serious threats to its security? (4) What are the unintended consequences of Pakistan's reactionary policy towards Afghanistan and in which direction have these outcomes guided Pakistan towards? While foreseeing the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and its spillover effect on region, this paper will provide Pakistan's proactive strategies in the form of National Action Plan and CPEC so as to overcome such possible effects in future over the internal security situation and economic condition of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among Central Asian countries Afghanistan reserves an important position because it has been under the war conflict and political instability during the past five decades and a limited research is available on different dimensions of population and economic development. Being involved in war conflict situation, Afghanistan age structure is changing. This paper empirically explores the demographic bonus timings and durations for Afghanistan. The study results revealed that Afghanistan demographic bonus may remained for forty five years long starting from year 2000 and seem to be shut between year 2040 and 2045. For the proper encashment of demographic bonus the key challenge for the Government of Afghanistan is to create the policy environment on labour, savings and human capital. Which policies need to be incorporated to extend the demographic bonus is an added dimension to be considered in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a conceptual paper about the current trend and challenges of online business in Afghanistan. Since more than 10% of the population in Afghanistan has access to the internet, some businesses materialize this opportunity and offer a variety of products online in the capital and some other big cities. The author has found that these businesses are formed based on Cash on Delivery Model (COD). Identified challenges of online businesses such as lack of opportunity entrepreneurs, security, low purchasing power, corruption, lack of infrastructure and regulatory initiatives, house addressing, IT literacy and social trust as well as internet accessibility have been discussed in three different but interconnected concepts namely; entrepreneurs, government and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite sustained scholarly interest in post‐conflict states, there has not been a thorough review and analysis of associated methodology and the challenges of conducting research in these contexts. Addressing this gap, this paper directs attention to the particular effects of these settings on access and data quality and their ramifications for the resulting scholarship. It assesses the intrinsic challenges of performing fieldwork in these environments, drawing on both relevant social science literature and the authors' experiences of carrying out research in Afghanistan and Timor‐Leste. The study demonstrates that the post‐conflict environment moulds research design and, consequently, influences how questions are answered as well as the questions asked. Moreover, it highlights ways to mitigate these issues. This work is of relevance to scholars planning to engage in field research and to researchers reflecting upon their work, as well as to policymakers who are considering undertaking programmes or commissioning research in post‐conflict areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how a national higher education sector can be assembled upon a relatively narrow ideological foundation during and in the aftermath of violent conflict. It analyses the case of Afghanistan's higher education system, and argues that the violent disintegration of this system during the 1980s and 1990s created the conditions for a neoliberal reassembly and subsequent expansion of higher education from 2001. This paper draws on data gathered from document analysis, and semi-structured interviews with key policy actors. It identifies an ideological grounding in neoliberalism within higher education policies which are responsible for directing the sector's growth since 2010. I argue that this neoliberal agenda, largely driven by globalised influences, has exploited Afghanistan's conflict-affected context to position higher education primarily as a driver of economic growth, thus limiting policy emphasis on higher education's non-economic dividends. The paper concludes by critiquing the underlying assumption that this role is sufficient if higher education is to serve as a key institution in Afghanistan's ongoing national development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the geopolitical overlay that is shaping dynamic hydropolitical interactions of the Harirud River Basin, which is a basin that spans Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan. This paper argues that the control and capture of water resources are not solely for economic development but rather for geopolitical reasons that serve the security interests of the actors involved, particularly outside-basin powers like the US and India. The Afghan Government similarly views dams as symbols of nation-building and a way of staying in power. In the absence of a lasting trilateral agreement, the existing nature of the geopolitical dynamics of the basin has led upstream Afghanistan and downstream Iran and Turkmenistan to unilaterally establish their rights to control the “rules of the game”. This paper suggests that sustainable solutions will not be reached unless the geopolitical nature of the basin and outside interventions can center on a normative understanding of the regional interests, identities, and commonalities of all the riparian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to find the dynamism in Afghanistan's relations with Central Asian states. It is explained that prosperity without security is not possible and ongoing imbroglio in Afghanistan is directly affecting Central Asian states. The Central Asian states are surrounded by China, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. These states (with significant influence of India and Turkey) are the key regional players and their socioeconomic and political interests are converged on various issues. The political conditions in Afghanistan would directly impact the interests of Central Asian states. Drug trafficking, illegal migration, religious extremism, a ramified corrupt network, porous border and terrorism are subverting peace in Afghanistan and its spillover effects are dangerous for Central Asian states. The military and security situation in Afghanistan has a direct impact on the production and transport of energy from Central Asia to the rest of the world. The response of the regional organizations, particularly the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), with certain commonalities, towards these issues often contrasts with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This paper focuses on the efforts of major powers (Russia, China, and the US) along with neighbouring countries in the peacebuilding in Afghanistan to avoid its spillover effects over Central Asian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent past, Sino-Afghan relations have taken a new phase of collaboration and inter-dependency to work jointly to advance their common geo-strategic and geo-economic goals. Being an international power on the global chessboard, China does have a great role in the regional geopolitical setting to ensure peace and tranquility in the region on the one hand and prioritize its own interests on the other. Afghanistan, being an epicenter of the region, draws a special attention of neighboring countries especially China to address threat perception emanating from cross-border terrorism, drug trafficking and promoting insurgency in its region of Xinjiang. This paper attempts to analyze the scope of bilateral collaboration between China and Afghanistan. The paper also intends to ascertain whether Afghan leadership will be wise enough to use Chinese assistance as a trap card to utilize their geographic setting in such a manner in which both Chinese and Afghans can benefit and also to ensure their cooperation for longer period of time for peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homosexuality is a complex phenomenon that is controversial and a taboo to discuss globally and in Afghanistan specifically. The present study aims to analyze the novel The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini critically, to uncover the sexual realities and motives of Aseef who is a classic bully in the novel. The present paper intends to unveil homosexuality in Afghanistan among young generation which is fundamentally treated as a shame topic to talk. This paper gives reasons for Aseef's oppressed homosexual feelings and sentiments which enables him to keep his racial superiority by examining the rape scene analytically. The paper unsnarls Aseef's homosexual desires as a youth and later his sexual advancements and assaults being a Taliban Leader, on young kids in an orphanage. The actions of the characters of the novel are investigated critically to justify that Afghani characters in the story are showing their willing ignorance towards Homosexuality. The study also concludes homosexuality as a strong desire to maintain racial superiority over the males and young boys of hazara community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to show the relevance and applicability of Martha Nussbaum's Capability Approach (MNCA) in feminism to the lives of the women in Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) regions who are impacted by war, underdevelopment, entrenched patriarchy and religious fundamentalism and face its deadly repercussions on their daily lives and human rights. Contrary to the reductionist representation of women in these regions in terms of their religio-cultural identity, this article bases itself in their harsh, socio-economic-political reality, history of the cold war, erosion of democratic institutions, war on terror and the rise of militarism and nationalism. Thus, issues of development, specifically, gender gap and human rights need to be brought centre-stage to address the systematic violation of women's rights. The MNCA, being rooted in the dignity and personhood of each individual, is an indispensable baseline in terms of basic human rights for women in the Af-Pak region. Here, I show how the MNCA does not contradict institutions of family, culture and religion in the region and actually serves to build a bridge between universality and the specific local context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the US failed to implement the WPS Act and offers a practical demonstration of how to analyze Afghanistan's security situation from a WPS lens before making three policy arguments regarding what the United States can learn from this error. This omission from the ongoing political debate demonstrates that - despite the United States in the late 2010s being "the first country in the world with a comprehensive law on WPS, and I de facto i , the first with a whole-of-government strategy that responds to such a domestic law"[1] - its government and security communities have not yet fully integrated critical WPS concepts and theories or understood their practical applicability for US security and policy decisions. The US military withdrawal process from Afghanistan brought politicized accusations of multiple foreign policy - military, intelligence, and diplomatic - miscommunications and misconceptions. WPS analyses are critical to understand why Afghanistan destabilized so quickly WPS analyses are critical if policymakers and security professionals truly wish to understand why Afghanistan destabilized so quickly and what the United States should consider for future drawdowns. [Extracted from the article]

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This paper explains how the authors applied Action Research during Operation Enduring Freedom in the course of U.S. Department of Defense operations intended to improve local governance in Afghanistan. Serving as civilian field researchers in 2011–2012, we were tasked, in part, with observing how informal custom and authority interacted with the functioning of local government. Assisted greatly by Action Research's participatory nature, we were able to systematically develop a crucial relationship with an influential government official in a rural area. The partnership that resulted ultimately led to the implementation of planning procedures that were well suited to meet the needs of the district and more transparent to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and entities working with the U.S. Department of Defense. We argue that adopting and training for Action Research would increase the probability of success for current and future "non-lethal" U.S. Department of Defense activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every region and people has peculiar economic characteristics and these features largely have roots in that region's social structure, social psychology and its dynamics. The capitalist economy of the United States has roots in individualism and Protestant Work Ethic, influenced both by Protestant religion and the social character of the Americans; the Client Economy of Saudi Arabia has deep linkages to its tribal social structure and the so-called Bazaar Economy of Afghanistan is profoundly embedded in the Pakhtun social structure of the country. The Pakhtuns of Pakistan have a peculiar social structure and social psychology thereof having profound and extensive influence on the region's economy particularly its largely underdeveloped condition. The paper explores the characteristics of Pakhtun social structure and the interactive linkages between the social edifice and economic development or lack of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates international forces withdrawal from Afghanistan. This paper has mainly addressed an important question that: what is the impact of the withdrawal of the international forces on investment in Herat, Afghanistan? The primary data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires to different key informants, including professors at Herat University, local investors, and governmental employees. The number of respondents was selected based on using stratified random sampling method. In the past 13 years, Afghanistan saw a massive influx of international aids, to invest in different sectors and development of the country overall. The Government of Afghanistan with the help of the international community has paid attention on attracting domestic and foreign investments. The investment activities were progressing smoothly with comparatively high productivity during the 2003 to 2008 throughout the country. Afterward, the investment activities started its downward due to security problems such as armed robbery and kidnapping. Since 2011, the situation was changing day by day and getting worse. Specially, the announcement of withdrawal of the international forces from Afghanistan in 2014 has negatively impacted on development activities throughout the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the counternarcotic strategies of US government agencies in Afghanistan from 2001-2014. Despite a heavy US presence in the country, Afghanistan currently accounts for 80% of opium production worldwide and remains a key contributor to the global drug market. This paper argues that the divergent counternarcotic strategies of various US government agencies on the ground in Afghanistan are a product of the organizational differences amongst those agencies and that those differences can challenge the implementation of counternarcotics policies in Afghanistan. To gain a more in-depth perspective, this paper analyzes the counternarcotic strategies of two US government agencies in Afghanistan; the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Utilizing the framework of the organizational behavior model of organizational theory, this paper will highlight the varying organizational interests, opinions, standard operating procedures, and routines of both of the government agencies. The paper concludes with implications on counternarcotics, as well as the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and provides recommendations for future research on foreign policy and counternarcotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugees can experience problems accessing and utilising Australian primary health care services, resulting in suboptimal health outcomes. Little is known about the impact of their pre-migration health care experiences. This paper demonstrates how the Afghan pre-migration experiences of primary health care can affect engagement with Australian primary care services. It considers the implications for Australian primary health care policy, planning and delivery. This paper is based on the international experiences, insights and expert opinions of the authors, and is underpinned by literature on Afghan health-seeking behaviour. Importantly, Afghanistan and Australia have different primary health care strategies. In Afghanistan, health care is predominantly provided through a community-based outreach approach, namely through community health workers residing in the local community. In contrast, the Australian health care system requires client attendance at formal health service facilities. This difference contributes to service access and utilisation problems. Community engagement is essential to bridge the gap between the Afghan community and Australian primary health care services. This can be achieved through the health sector working to strengthen partnerships between Afghan individuals, communities and health services. Enhanced community engagement has the potential to improve the delivery of primary health care to the Afghan community in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns young adults who came to Sweden from Afghanistan as unaccompanied refugee minors (UMs) and their engagement with poetry and other creative activities. The aim was to explore how UMs use poetic writing and other creative activities to handle resettlement challenges. Seven young men and six young women, aged 18–24, participated in semi-structured interviews. The material was analyzed using the three components of poetry therapy, developed by Mazza. Three themes were identified: (1) Encouragement; (2) Creative expressions as a "safe place"; and (3) A sense of recognition. Through creative expressions, our participants could understand and handle the emotional difficulties and the insecurity associated with resettlement. Poetic writing was a way to convey personal experiences of injustices, a source of self-understanding, and a way to establish new social networks. We discuss and present suggestions on how poetry and other creative activities can be integrated in interventions toward UMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper investigates the prediction of mobile traffic load based on four variants of recurrent neural networks, which are the simple long short‐term memory (LSTM), stacked LSTM, gated recurrent unit (GRU) and bidirectional LSTM. In the considered schemes, the mobile traffic load of 15 min ahead of time is estimated based on the previous mobile traffic load data. The performance of the proposed scheme is verified using realistic traffic load data collected from the base station located in Kabul city, Afghanistan, which belongs to the SALAAM telecommunication operator during December 2020 and January 2021. Through performance evaluation, the authors confirm that the traffic load can be predicted with high accuracy using considered schemes and the GRU‐based scheme outperforms other schemes in terms of accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early beginning, stability, prosperity and security have been core values for the members of the transatlantic community. Efforts have been made for reconciliation over human lives lost in war, to understand and to solve dramatic changes in societies, to rebuild economies after heavy losses in goods, and to repair and maintain destroyed basic infrastructure; these are still ongoing concerns that present periodical challenges for all participating states. Statebuilding approaches can be described in many theoretical ways, but in practice - based on historical experience - they can be either peaceful or very bloody. In order to realise unknown and extreme factors and to give them adequate answers there is an urgent need for a stable, reliable and effective system. The Hungarian Defence Forces has a long history in peace operations, however, the latest missions conducted, especially in the Balkans and in Afghanistan, provided lots of useful experience related to different statebuilding efforts. In this paper the authors explain the basic general relations between state and the military, in normal - or ideal - circumstances, illustrated - as a comparison - with different elements and factors in statebuilding efforts in case of extreme conditions such as war, failing states or even a hypocritical emergence of state-like entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many veterans returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, homecoming is an encounter with an unrecognisable former homeland that has become a place of uncertainty and confounding moral landscapes. Within the liminal space of combat deployment, occupying soldiers cross thresholds which confound established moral worlds and problematise notions of purpose. Through acts of transgression, temporality and ratiocination are challenged and reconfigured. Applying the analytic of 'thresholds' to theorise about these encounters, this paper draws from 18 months of fieldwork with repatriated American veterans as well as my own experience as a veteran of the war in Afghanistan. As a concept, thresholds elucidate the intensity and permanence of the embodied phenomenological encounters that epitomise contemporary wartime soldiering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines The Wasted Vigil, a post-9/11 novel by Nadeem Aslam, to find out how the writer articulates imperialist ideology in his composition. The study reveals that the writer internalizes the imperialist discourses on the war in Afghanistan and becomes a voice of the imperialist powers by consolidating their ideology. Some of the ideologies that the novel incorporates are Western cultural supremacy, fear of the 'evil empire', mystic East, human rights violation, stereotyping, Islamophobia, patriarchy, white man's burden, rehabilitation and political economy. Invoking the theoretical positions of Said, Dabashi, and Chomsky, this paper argues that the writer, overlooking some ground realities germane to the New Great Game, regularly tends to misrepresent the local culture and, thus, stereotypes the war-affected people of Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Republican nominee Donald Trump vowed to bring troops home from Afghanistan. After the election, in August of 2017, newly elected President Trump, with advice from national security adviser McMaster, decided to keep troops in Afghanistan. It is reported that the President was convinced to keep troops in Afghanistan after shown a black and white photograph of Afghan women in miniskirts from the 1970s (Eberhardt, 2017; Rucker & Costa, 2017). These photographs, in juxtaposition with images of veiled women, however, play a specific role in how we think about Afghanistan and intervention. Examining media representations of Afghan women, we explore media coverage in The New York Times, through a thematic analysis of 286 articles beginning with the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 up to 2018. We focus on coverage of Afghan women over the span of 17 years, paying close attention to news coverage following the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, President Obama's direction to increase the number of military troops in the country, and President Trump's decision to keep troops in Afghanistan. This paper examines how Afghan women are presented in media coverage and how these representations contribute to larger discussions of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The USA and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have been waging war against the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than a decade, with territorial gains by coalition forces often proving to be ephemeral. This paper traces the origins and evolution of the current Afghan insurgency and explores the framing of the Taliban movement's discourse on Twitter and other interactive websites. The paper postulates that Taliban activists are utilizing social media to disseminate their views and frame their movement in the phraseology of militant Islamism, traditional Pashtun folklore, anti-imperialism, social justice, and universal human rights. Taliban militants are attempting to align their discursive frames with various transnational ideologies that resonate not only with prospective recruits and supporters in Central and South Asia and the Middle East, but also potentially receptive audiences in the West. Such frame alignments are essential components in the micro-mobilization of movement participants. Taliban activists apparently recognize that there are important symbols, narratives, and channels already in existence that can facilitate the growth of their insurgency, while effectively discrediting coalition forces. This paper examines frame alignments and other insurgent-mobilization communication strategies by conducting a content analysis of recent tweets and blogs written by Taliban cyber-activists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afghanistan has 6 neighbors: Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan (to the north), Iran (to the West), Pakistan (to the South-East), and China (to the remote East). Intervention and continuous war as well as insecurity are the main thematic areas of poverty in Afghanistan. Moreover, in many cases, poverty in Afghanistan is mainly aff ected by economic and political policies of neighboring countries. Th erefore, lack of economic and political integration at the regional level has increased the poverty in Afghanistan. By any measure such as per capita income, life expectancy, health, education, welfare, or freedom, Afghanistan is a very poor country. Th is paper discusses poverty and the dimensions of poverty in Afghanistan. In addition, this paper presents ways to reduce poverty through providing security and regional integration with neighboring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on the period 2001–2003, the paper discusses how the Western military intervention in Afghanistan changed power structures early on, undermining the political settlement in the long term and culminating in the present electoral crisis. Key concepts, a theoretical framework and the initial military approach (including how the initial military strategy undermined an indigenous solution for toppling the Taliban) are outlined and literature focused on hybrid governance and ‘legitimacy’ as an important but overlooked facet of peace-building is presented. Examples of ‘lessons learned’ in relation to the failure to engage with traditional forms of governance–early on in the Afghan conflict—are set out. The objective is to show that the military strategy adopted in 2001–2002 had adverse long-term consequences that were hard to reverse later on (e.g. by shifting the goalposts of military activity to, for example, a counter-insurgency strategy from 2005 onwards). This paper does not aim to resolve these paradoxes in the Afghan context going forward but offers implicit recommendations based on ‘lessons learned’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative & International Education is the property of Canadian & International Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The war-torn Afghanistan has long suffered from the dynastical contests and fraught economic strategies of foreigners, which instigated constant internal strife and regional instability. The foreign interventions have made this land a sphere of influence and initiated the great game politics sporadically. This paper attempts to examine the historical geostrategic tussles in Afghanistan between international players on the one hand and regional actors on the other hand over control and manipulation of Afghanistan and its surrounding regions through the lens of conceptual framework of unintended consequences approach, which deals with irrational aspect of foreign policy of the states. This study makes interesting contribution to the existing literature of the [old] Great Game of the late 19th century between Czarist Russia and Great Britain or New Great Game by re-conceptualizing this idea into a new concept of the Grand Great Game or the 3G in place of explaining the unintended consequences of the historical events i.e. the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan of 1979, the post-Cold War era when the regional players Pakistan and India got involved in Afghanistan; and the US invasion of Afghanistan of 9/11 incident. The findings of the paper suggest that the unintended consequences of these historical events are bitter than the reality. The foreign interventions have paralyzed the Afghan society and made it more insecure by promoting clandestine terrorist activities and proxies. The interview technique helps to verify the 3G concept and present its unintended consequences. The critical content analysis of the primary and secondary data is of assistance to understand that the current 3G to be not only multidimensional competition, embodying multiple stakeholders but also incorporating complex self-defined rational as well as irrational foreign policy objectives and national interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A focus on governmental actions, possibilities, and constraints has dominated scholarship evaluating Canadian military interventions abroad. While the public opinion side of the equation has seen fruitful contribution, it still remains an underdeveloped dimension. This paper gathers opinion polls to offer a description of Canadian opinion on military interventions abroad in general and peacekeeping in particular. More specifically, the focus of this study is to evaluate public preferences after the end of the mission combat in Afghanistan to this day. Using aggregate data from twenty polls conducted between 2013 and 2016 on three specific cases--Mali, Ukraine, and Islamic State (IS)--this paper sketches the contours of Canadian opinion on the desirability and forms of Canadian military interventions abroad. This study concludes that isolationism did not prevail after the Afghan mission in Canadian public opinion. Further, defensive militarism options such as training local troops abroad has been favoured by the Canadian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do international peace- and state-building interventions regularly fail to transform conflict-ridden countries into liberal states? This paper argues that interventionists’ practices and dependency on local intermediaries help explain the disappointing outcomes of intervention. Based on a relational theoretical approach and original empirical material, the paper compares two of the largest peace- and state-building interventions in recent years. For practical and normative reasons, peacebuilders need to find local partners who help them instil change. However, as partners of peace- and state-building interventions, local elites may appropriate international resources and use them to strengthen their own positions. Interventionists abstain from sanctioning such appropriation as long as their own short-term and purpose-oriented goals are not undermined. Contrary to assumptions in much of the literature, interventionists do not eagerly defend their alleged liberal agendas. Instead, their pragmatism strengthens existing neo-patrimonial figurations rather than fostering fundamental transformation. The paper argues that research should focus on peacebuilders’ actual practices rather than normative statements. Such an approach allows for a better understanding of evolving political orders in conflict societies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper adopts a socio-historical perspective to explore when, how and why the eradication of poliomyelitis has become politicised to the extent that health workers and security personnel are targeted in drive-by shootings. Discussions of the polio crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan have tended to focus on Taliban suspicions of a US-led public health intervention and the denunciation of ‘modernity’ by Islamic ‘extremists’. In contrast, this paper considers a broader history of indigenous hostility and resistance to colonial immunisation on the subcontinent, suggesting how interconnected public health and political crises today have reactivated the past and created a continuity between events. The paper explores how the biomedical threat posed by polio has become intertwined with military and governmental discourses premised on the ‘preemptive strike’. Here, the paper tracks the connections between biological immunity and a postcolonial politics that posits an immunological rationale for politico-military interventions. The paper concludes by reflecting on the consequences for global public health of this entanglement of infectious disease with terror. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The aim of this paper is to investigate the prevalence of diabetes and its associated risk factors in Afghanistan through a systematic review and meta-analysis.Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar and the Cochrane library, carried out from inception to April 312,020, without language restriction. Meta-analysis was performed using DerSimonian and Laird random-effects models with inverse variance weighting. The existence of publication bias was initially assessed by visual inspection of a funnel plot and then tested by the Egger regression test. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression were used to explore potential sources of heterogeneity. This systematic review was reported by following the PRISMA guidelines and the methodological quality of each included study was evaluated using the STROBE guidelines.Results: Out of 64 potentially relevant studies, only 06 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were considered for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of diabetes in the general population based on population-based studies were 12.13% (95% CI: 8.86-16.24%), based on a pooled sample of 7071 individuals. Results of univariate meta-regression analysis revealed that the prevalence of diabetes increased with mean age, hypertension and obesity. There was no significant association between sex (male vs female), smoking, the methodological quality of included articles or education (illiterate vs literate) and the prevalence of diabetes.Conclusions: This meta-analysis reports the 12.13% prevalence of diabetes in Afghanistan,with the highest prevalence in Kandahar and the lowest in Balkh province. The main risk factors include increasing age, obesity and hypertension. Community-based care and preventive training programmes are recommended.Trial Registration: This review was registered on PROSPERO (registration number CRD42020172624 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plate tectonics of Northeast Afghanistan are complex with diffuse and sparse seismicity in the broad plate deformation zones embedded by a number of micro-plates in the Badakhshan. Geothermal techniques in this area provide an important tool for investigating plate tectonic kinematics and identifying the approximate plate tectonic geometries. In this paper, we have processed seismic centers data (1909-2022) collected by EMME and USGS catalogs and geothermal data by Landsat 8 satellite images. Modeling of tectonic lines by geothermal energy and seismicity trends are studied. We find that the deformation in Northeast Asia can be well described by several blocks, independent of the Eurasian plate motion. Landsat images showed the important geothermal lines with medium and low importance. Tectonic micro-zones were defined by placing lines of high importance and medium importance together. According to the trend of seismicity centers concentrated from east to west of the Badakhshan region, the result shows the continuation of east-west fractures. This east-west trend in the center of Badakhshan is located exactly in the fracture and the edge of the micro-zone plate with medium importance. The transformation of medium-importance fractures into highimportance fractures in the geographical center of Badakhshan can cause more important earthquakes in the region [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates recently imposed restrictions in the asylum regimes in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. The purpose of the paper is twofold. First, we aim to identify general changes in asylum policies and asylum legislation. Second, we discuss and compare the policy tools, practices and legislation that have undermined the rights of unaccompanied Afghan minors. We also observe new tools of internal and external deterrence and restrictive asylum policies, combined with tighter border controls. In the case of adult asylum seekers from Afghanistan, high rejection rates and deportations were used for years as an important tool of deterrence. However, these tools were seldom used against unaccompanied Afghan minors before the large influx of asylum seekers in 2015. Since 2015, increased use of rejections, combined with temporary protections, have emerged as the major tools for restriction. We identify similarities and differences in the policy restrictions targeting unaccompanied minors between the countries. Although we identify some recent diverging trends in Scandinavian asylum policies regarding unaccompanied minors from Afghanistan, the general trend of policy restrictions still prevails in all three countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, based on numerous interviews conducted with former jihadists, argues that the emergence of the Islamic State, more than an organizational rift, has led to a major paradigm shift within the jihadi organizations. As such we argue that the Al Qaeda salafi jihadi paradigm, i.e., the "Peshawar paradigm," has gradually evolved over the years, becoming more in phase with the realities of the battlefield and less dogmatic, explaining this organization's constant resilience in spite of many setbacks and leading to the rise of a new thinking which we call "the Idelb Paradigm." Conversely, the ISIS jihadi paradigm, which we call "the Raqqa Paradigm," stems from the Takfiri school of thought. While not new and already present in the 1980s in Afghanistan, the Takfiri school of thought has been gaining momentum over the years and emerged as a major to the Al Qaeda one. This schism is likely to have a long-term effect on the strategies and alliances of the respective affiliates of both Al Qaeda and ISIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Art History / Sanat Tarihi Dergisi is the property of Ege University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper is a part of a wider research on the Ismaili identity, peculiarities of the Ismailis' self-identification in various parts of the world under different historical circumstances. The ambiguous status of the Ismailis in Afghanistan turned to be particularly problematic by the end of the 19th century when the Pashtuns became dominant in the traditionally Ismaili-inhabited areas. In a hostile milieu, under severe persecutions, the local Ismaili identity acquired a tendency of unification with other ethno-religious identities, the principle of taqiyya having been widely spread. Since then, the Ismailis became especially dependent on the political situation in Afghanistan and the policy of its rulers towards ethnic and religious minorities. The War of 1979-1989 turned to be the most dramatic episode in the history of the Ismaili community in Afghanistan when its very survival appeared to be questioned: Ismaili intellectuals left the region, and lower social layers got involved in drug cultivation and trafficking. Supporting any of the conflict's sides could have led to a community tragedy, possibly to its complete annihilation. The limited information we obtained, including the memoirs of the Afghan War veterans, demonstrate the identity split in the Ismaili community of Afghanistan whose members were fighting on the opposite sides of the armed conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transboundary Helmand River basin (HRB) is the main drainage system for large parts of Afghanistan and the Sistan region of Iran. Due to the reliance of this arid region on water from the Helmand River, a better understanding of hydrological-drought pattern and the underlying drivers in the region is critically required for effective management of the available water. The objective of this paper is therefore to analyze and quantify spatiotemporal pattern of drought and the underlying processes in the study region. More specifically we test for the Helmand River basin the following hypotheses for the 1970–2006 period: (1) drought characteristics, including frequency and severity, systematically changed over the study period; (2) the spatial pattern and processes of drought propagation through the Helmand River basin also changed; and (3) the relative roles of climate variability and human influence on changes in hydrological droughts can be quantified. It was found that drought characteristics varied throughout the study period but largely showed no systematic trends. The same was observed for the time series of drought indices SPI (standard precipitation index) and SPEI (standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index), which exhibited considerable spatial coherence and synchronicity throughout the basin, indicating that, overall, droughts similarly affect the entire HRB with few regional or local differences. In contrast, analysis of the SDI (streamflow drought index) exhibited significant negative trends in the lower parts of the basin, indicating an intensification of hydrological droughts. It could be shown that with a mean annual precipitation of ∼ 250 mm yr -1 , streamflow deficits and thus hydrological drought throughout the HRB are largely controlled by precipitation deficits, whose annual anomalies on average account for ±50 mm yr -1 , or ∼ 20 % of the water balance of the HRB, while anomalies of total evaporative fluxes on average only account for ±20 mm yr -1. Assuming no changes in the reservoir management practices over the study period, the results suggest that the two reservoirs in the HRB only played a minor role for the downstream propagation of streamflow deficits, as indicated by the mean difference between inflow and outflow during drought periods, which did not exceed ∼ 0.5 % of the water balance of the HRB. Irrigation water abstraction had a similarly limited effect on the magnitude of streamflow deficits, accounting for ∼ 10 % of the water balance of the HRB. However, the downstream parts of the HRB moderated the further propagation of streamflow deficits and associated droughts because of the minor effects of reservoir operation and very limited agricultural water in the early decades of the study period. This drought moderation function of the lower basin was gradually and systematically inverted by the end of the study period, when the lower basin eventually amplified the downstream propagation of flow deficits and droughts. Our results provide plausible evidence that this shift from drought moderation to drought amplification in the lower basin is likely a consequence of increased agricultural activity and the associated increases in irrigation water demand, from ∼ 13 mm yr -1 at the beginning of the study period to ∼ 23 mm yr -1 at the end, and thus in spite of being only a minor fraction of the water balance. Overall the results of this study illustrate that flow deficits and the associated droughts in the HRB clearly reflect the dynamic interplay between temporally varying regional differences in hydro-meteorological variables together with subtle and temporally varying effects linked to direct human intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though Afghanistan remains one of the top origin countries of refugees around the world, a considerable number of refugees have also returned over the last three decades. This paper investigates the labor market outcomes of those returned refugees from Iran and Pakistan, motivated by the fact that their reintegration greatly depends on the ability to access sustainable income-generating activities as a basis of their livelihood. The analysis relies on cross-sectional data from an original household survey collected in five provinces of Afghanistan in 2011. The analytical approach is twofold: first, to compare returned refugees to non-migrants in regard to what influences their respective labor market outcomes; and second, to investigate the influence of the returnees' migration and return experience on those outcomes. We find evidence that returned refugees are less likely to be wage employed in comparison to non-migrants and that those factors related to socioeconomic status including educational attainment, and the strength of social networks plays an influential role in labor market outcomes. When it comes to the migration and return experience of returnees, a few key factors are found to be of particular consequence for current employment status including employment prior to migration, time abroad, amount of savings brought back upon return, return assistance, and intentions to re-migrate. These findings help to shed light on the reintegration process of returned refugees in Afghanistan, an issue of growing concern for policymakers taking into consideration the recent increase in return flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Humanitas: International Journal of Social Sciences / Uluslararasi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi is the property of Humanitas: International Journal of Social Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background Information about pain and injury from equipment on a particular deployment is not disaggregated in the literature; thus, the nature of the issue is unclear. Aims To determine the prevalence of pain or injury during a particular deployment that military personnel attributed to equipment they used on this deployment; and to document the types of equipment they identified, the type of pain or injury and how they thought the pain or injury occurred. Methods This paper analyses data from a deployment and health survey of Australian Defence Force personnel. The participants are 8932 personnel who deployed to Iraq and 6534 who deployed to Afghanistan. Participants indicated whether they experienced pain or injury from equipment they used on deployment and detailed their experiences in response to an open-ended question (n = 563). Results Sixteen per cent of Iraq-deployed and 21% of Afghanistan-deployed participants reported pain or injury from equipment they used on deployment. Body armour was the most common equipment identified; however, a wide range of equipment was related to pain or injury. A new finding is that pain or injury related to armour was attributed to its wear in vehicles and during vehicle ingress or egress. Conclusions Knowledge of the nature of pain or injury related to equipment used on deployment may help inform improved designs and practices to reduce or prevent avoidable harm to serving personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impacts of service learning (SL) on teaching sustainability competencies in an undergraduate tourism program at Bamyan University, Afghanistan. This study reports on tourism students' experiences in the SL course which taught five key sustainability competencies (collaboration, values thinking, action-oriented, systems thinking and integrated problem-solving). Design/methodology/approach: This paper assessed students' perceptions of their sustainability competencies gained during the implementation of the course in 2016 and 2017 through focus groups, reflective essays and participant observation. Findings: The results demonstrate how the SL experience led students to self-discovery, strong conceptualizations of sustainability and working relationships with community stakeholders. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to assess the impacts of a SL course in Afghanistan. The analysis provides valuable information for developing effective higher education programs, relationships of trust between students and community stakeholders and the empowerment of students to contribute to local solutions which serve a role in stabilization efforts in conflict-affected contexts.

This paper is based on the results of an ethnography conducted in the context of several junior high schools in the host community of Iran. It draws on the data collected via observations and forty sessions of in-depth semi-structured interviews with school staff, domestic (Iranian) and refugee (Afghan) students, and their parents. The paper aims to explore the probable impacts of some particular elements on the absorption of refugee students in the host community. These elements included interactions between refugee and domestic students, the role of their parents, and the role of multicultural aspects of pedagogy.