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Background/Objective: This study aimed to identify COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students in Helmand, Afghanistan, and its contributing factors. The findings will be presented to key healthcare organizations for peer review and used to develop a regional Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) strategy to increase national vaccine acceptance among medical students. Methods: This study employed a structured approach consisting of three steps. First, a paper-based Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) questionnaire was developed and tested for efficacy and understanding. Second, using Yamane's formula to determine the appropriate sample size, a population-based stratified sampling method was employed to select 200 respondents from 937 medical students in 21 classes. Results: A survey conducted in February 2022 revealed a high percentage (38.6%, or 56 out of 145) of medical students hesitant to receive SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in Helmand, Afghanistan. Factors contributing to this hesitancy include a lack of information about COVID-19 vaccination, doubts about its adverse effects, and fear of long-term sequelae associated with immunization. Conclusion: The results of this study provide valuable insights for professors, policymakers, and health organizations to address factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among medical students. Approaches such as RCCE campaigns, public awareness initiatives, and incorporating a dedicated vaccination chapter into the medical curriculum can minimize hesitancy and increase vaccine acceptance. Addressing vaccine hesitancy is crucial to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and protect the health of medical students at higher risk due to their proximity to infected populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan took the world by surprise. This article investigates how this event was seen differently in varied contexts, such as neighboring Pakistan. Our research shows epistemological pluralism in Pakistan, i.e. how different groups use different ways of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology), and valuing (axiology) to explain and analyze Taliban 2.0. Conceptually, the paper draws on insights from the relationality theory to demonstrate the reasons behind such epistemological pluralism. The theory of relationality provides the grounds for epistemological pluralism, i.e. the mixed sentiments and feelings among respondents about the Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan. Our research reports the perspectives of nine selected civil society activists about Taliban 2.0 in Afghanistan and its implications for Pakistan. The respondents were interviewed during the second quarter of the Taliban administering Afghanistan. Some called it the victory of Islam, the freedom of Afghans from foreign occupation, and the protection of the Pakistani border from Indian proxies. Others were worried about the risks of increased extremism and terrorism in Pakistan, including the rise of banned organizations like Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan. This study intends to document the interviewee civil society activists' suggestions to the State of Pakistan for dealing with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did the nuclear dominoes stop in Afghanistan? This paper is a logical analysis of this question. Nuclear dominoes are common in rival relations characterized by geographic proximity, ongoing military conflict, and mutual hostility. The U.S.– USSR–China–India–Pakistan cascade of nuclear weapons development is empirical evidence of this phenomenon. However, despite the development of nuclear weapons by its arch-enemy Pakistan, Afghanistan did not proliferate in response. This study identifies and validates the reasons why Afghanistan did not (or could not) develop nuclear weapons, categorized into threat, capability, and constraint factors. The most significant finding is that Afghanistan did not perceive Pakistan’s nukes as a threat in terms of intention. Of course, it is also possible to argue that Afghanistan lacked the capacity to bear the various costs of developing nuclear weapons and that structural constraints imposed by international nonproliferation commitments, great power coercion, and regional balance of power dynamics prevented it from doing so. However, the root cause was the symbiotic relationship between the Taliban regime and Pakistan, temporarily easing the enduring rivalry, resulting in a bias in threat perception. These findings are consistent with the constructivist view of the importance of “shared understanding” in threat perception and challenge the realist perception that nuclear dominoes are inevitable in rivalry relationships. They are also significant because they provide clues for peace and stability in East Asia, one of the regions most likely to experience nuclear dominoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multi-parameter ionospheric disturbance analysis of the total electron content (TEC), density (Ne), temperature (Te), and critical frequency foF2 variations preceding two significant earthquake events (2015 Mw 7.5 and 2023 Mw 6.3) that occurred in Afghanistan. The analysis from various ground stations and low-Earth-orbit satellite measurements involved employing the sliding interquartile method to process TEC data of Global Ionospheric Maps (GIMs), comparing revisit trajectories to identify anomalies in Ne and Te from Swarm satellites, applying machine learning-based envelope estimation for GPS-derived TEC measurements, utilizing the least square method for foF2 data and ionograms obtained from available base stations in the Global Ionosphere Radio Observatory (GIRO). After excluding potential influences caused by solar and geomagnetic activities, the following phenomena were revealed: (1) The GIM-TEC variations displayed positive anomalies one day before the 2015 Mw 7.5 earthquake, while significant positive anomalies occurred on the shock days (7, 11, and 15) of the 2023 Mw 6.3 earthquake; (2) the Swarm satellite observations (Ne and Te) for the two earthquakes followed almost the same appearance rates as GIM-TEC, and a negative correlation between the Ne and Te values was found, with clearer appearance at night; (3) there were prominent positive TEC anomalies 8 days and almost 3 h before the earthquakes at selected GPS stations, which were nearest to the earthquake preparation area. The anomalous variations in TEC height and plasma density were verified by analyzing the foF2, which confirmed the ionospheric perturbations. Unusual ionospheric disturbances indicate imminent pre-seismic events, which provides the potential opportunity to provide aid for earthquake prediction and natural hazard risk management in Afghanistan and nearby regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and efficient post-earthquake building damage assessment methods enable key building damage information to be obtained more quickly after an earthquake, providing strong support for rescue and reconstruction efforts. Although many methods have been proposed, most have limited effect on accurately extracting severely damaged and collapsed buildings, and they cannot meet the needs of emergency response and rescue operations. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a novel building damage heterogeneity enhancement network for pixel-level building damage classification of post-earthquake unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and remote sensing data. The proposed BDHE-Net includes the following three modules: a data augmentation module (DAM), a building damage attention module (BDAM), and a multilevel feature adaptive fusion module (MFAF), which are used to alleviate the weight deviation of intact and slightly damaged categories during model training, pay attention to the heterogeneous characteristics of damaged buildings, and enhance the extraction of house integrity contour information at different resolutions of the image. In addition, a combined loss function is used to focus more attention on the small number of severely damaged and collapsed classes. The proposed model was tested on remote sensing and UAV images acquired from the Afghanistan and Baoxing earthquakes, and the combined loss function and the role of the three modules were studied. The results show that compared with the state-of-the-art methods, the proposed BDHE-Net achieves the best results, with an F1 score improvement of 6.19–8.22%. By integrating the DBA, BDAM, and MFAF modules and combining the loss functions, the model's classification accuracy for severely damaged and collapsed categories can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the making of Bamiyan Buddhas beyond the Bamiyan valley in Afghanistan since 2002. Recounting the building and rebuilding of a monastic complex in Bangkok, the study focuses on one of these new Buddhas, more complete than the "original" Bamiyan Buddha of the dually inscribed grotto, "Bamiyanguha-Bamiyan Museum", at Wat Saket. In their global manifestations, the Bamiyan Buddhas have emerged as mobile sites, as place holders with direct and indirect citations to the destroyed Buddhas of the valley. The building of Wat Saket's Bamiyan Buddha is situated within larger transnational histories of planned, projected, rejected, and reproduced Bamiyan Buddhas, within stylistic decisions related to questions of shifting material media, scale, and iconography involved in copying and reproductions, in the context of Thailand's changing engagements with itinerance, multiplication, and copying strategies around Buddha images, and in national and global circuits of collecting, exhibitions, gift, and piety. The museum, specifically the cave-museum of Wat Saket, as a site of retinal and haptic vision which continues to challenge and blur the distinctions between curatorial visions, specialist pedagogy, visual instructions, aesthetic contemplation, and rapidly shifting and evolving complex of ritual practices and leisure, remains at the heart of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquiring English as L2 and foreign language is different from context to context. It is important to remember that acquiring English needs suitable context and enough input in communication. Understanding of question words in EFL Context, especially the learners who learn English as a foreign language in Afghanistan was the new subject. The main purpose of this study is to characterize Wh-words on the performance of the learners who participated in ESP Courses at Badakhshan University and Borna Higher Education in Faizabad, Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan. Recently, some of these students graduated from Badakhshan University and Borna Higher Education and they occupied different positions in different national and international organization. The main criterion for recruiting of these students these organizations was knowing the fourth skills of English language. In this study, 50 subjects were selected from 150 students who participated in the exam. Among these subjects, 25 were female and who also graduated from different disciplines and participated in ESP classes. The task distributed for all these participants in a special large class and the data were collected. The data were analyzed based on quantitative research. Findings of this research represented wh-words and their movements in the sentences are sometimes complicated for the learners who use English as a foreign language, especially for intermediate level. They faced to challenges that they missed their using with auxiliaries and their movements from NP to CP positions. This paper ends with empirical search to represent the challenges to which the learners face when they use Wh-words in the sentences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the dramatic evacuation from Kabul airport in August 2021, the UK government proclaimed its commitment to a 'warm welcome' for Afghans. In this paper we draw on original qualitative research to explore the emerging experiences of evacuees, and other recent arrivals, during their first year in London. Using the narratives of our Afghans participants, as well as insights from key stakeholders, we show how they navigated slow, opaque bureaucratic processes and lack of communication with official agencies. As a result of these lengthy processes, many thousands of evacuees remained in temporary hotel accommodation for protracted periods. Drawing on the concept of 'everyday bordering', we explore the extent to which Afghan resettlement policies are achieving their objectives. We consider how such policies are birthed within a punitive immigration system, which is designed to 'wear down' migrants in the UK, regardless of their reason for migration. Moreover, we argue that the ad hoc response of the Home Office and the Foreign Office has created 'false distinctions' between categories of Afghan refugees, reinforcing notions of 'deserving' versus 'underserving' migrants. This distinction allows the government to present itself as humanitarian, 'rescuing' people from Afghanistan, while simultaneously maintaining its commitment to the 'hostile immigration environment'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explains the mechanisms of informal value transfer systems (IVTS) and illustrates the obstacles to domestic and international IVTS regulation including lax recordkeeping, language barriers and lack of communication between federal and international regulatory regimes. It highlights the steps taken by the U.S. to regulate IVTS and discusses the ongoing challenges to the U.S. approach. It compares the regulatory attempts of foreign countries including India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Copyright of Politics & Religion Journal is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political 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.)

The post-2019 period is a crucial timeframe in the context of the reappearance of Tehrik -e- Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) and other militant groups and the consequent rise of terrorist incidents in Pakistan. This paper aims to investigate the significant growth of terrorism in Pakistan as a threat to the country's internal security in the aforementioned era. This paper presents the concepts of internal security from the broader perspective of human and state security. The authors employ the situational method of qualitative approach encompassing various events and situations causing the intensity of terrorism in Pakistan in this phase covering two and half years (from January 2020 to June 2022). The concept of internal security is the perception of an act of keeping peace and maintaining law and order within the borders of a sovereign state by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Besides the increasing number of terror attacks and casualties as compared with the previous years, this period is additionally important due to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the return of Afghan Taliban to the power corridors of the war-ravaged country, ostensibly with high hopes of controlling terrorism in the region, affecting security situation in Pakistan as well. It has been identified that terrorism in the country during 2020 had increased compared to the year 2019, and there was a sharp rise in 2021 and 2022, reinforcing a threat to the country's internal security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s several caches of New Persian documents have come to light in Afghanistan. These documents, written on paper, are now the most significant sources for understanding how New Persian in Arabic script was used as an administrative and legal language in the eastern Islamic lands between the eleventh and early thirteenth centuries before the Mongol conquest of Khurāsān. After a brief survey of the three main collections in which these New Persian paper documents are preserved today, this article presents a preliminary edition, translation and commentary on one of the New Persian documents held in the Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. The document, dated ah 608/1212 ce, is a record of court proceedings and the decision of a judge (qāḍī) in a lawsuit over water rights initiated by a woman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the remapping of the American landscape as a mass reproducible visual medium onto foreign territories - particularly Afghanistan - during the Cold War. A series of films produced by the US Bureau of Mines and later screened in these territories are the sites of analysis. These films were the source material that applied the American landscape in its many forms, climates and uses to the US's physical infrastructure projects during the time. As sights, these projects of infrastructure building are indicative of the colonial gaze US technicians used to reproduce these landscapes and their underlying systems of power and class around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Appropriating relevant elements from Iranian film scholar Hamid Naficy's formulation of an 'Accented Cinema' (2001) that addresses various aspects of diasporic filmmaking and filmmakers 'situated in the interstices of social formations and cinematic practices' (4) as guiding tropes for analysis, this paper focuses on the depiction of the post-Taliban period through a contextual and critical reading of Nelofer Pazira's first documentary film Return to Kandahar (2003) and her debut feature film Act of Dishonour (2009) on the topic of 'honour-killing.' The paper examines how these films portray 'accented' images captured and relayed by a diaspora Afghan woman filmmaker to appeal to distant and unversed Western/foreign audiences and film festivals. In addition to Naficy's formulation of the 'accented cinema', I argue that Pazira uses a formulaic accent and variances (also to be read as her emphases) in her depictions that are aimed specifically at appealing to Western audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study that examines how gender has been referenced in United Nations (UN), supranational and state documents on forced migration over the past 40 years. It is motivated by the premise that humanitarian protection discourses reflect broader institutional priorities and ideologies and may therefore expose gaps that reveal the relative importance given to the category of gender. The evidence presented below is the result of an extensive review of policy documents on Afghanistan, Kurdistan Region-Iraq (KRI), and Sri Lanka contained in the Refworld database. 1 The study sought to understand how gender is mentioned in terms of 1. governmentality — a top-down policy preference, which emphasizes the management of humanitarian protection; 2. empowerment — a bottom up policy preference, which emphasizes self-actualization and self-determination: we seek to understand how agency is expressed, including how opportunities for participation feature in policy discourse; 3. inclusion — the scope of coverage of different gender categories in policy discourse; and, 4. differentiation — the particularization of needs, wishes, and demands made by women, men, and girls and boys in displacement settings. The paper finds: • Where gender and displacement are discussed together, there is greater emphasis on governmentality, which crowds out other objectives, including advancing opportunities for gender empowerment and participation. • Internally displaced persons (IDPs) tend to be treated as an operational challenge alongside security and peacebuilding. The nature of their displacement is implicit in these documents, associated within the recurring themes of land, violence, empowerment, and livelihoods. The documents mention violence, but do not widely cover maternal, sexual, and reproductive health. • The documents offer little insight into the identities of the displaced — whether female, male, children, or members of LGBT communities — and are mostly silent on their specific protection needs. Overall, the paper finds remarkably little integration of gender within the humanitarian literature on forced displacement. In spite of much advocacy by the UN, the concept of gender has not been effectively disaggregated to address the specific needs of IDPs, especially in the discussion of children. This paper argues that taking gender seriously means recognizing how protection needs may be shaped by power relationships, and how policy and practice would be enhanced by a more nuanced understanding of how vulnerabilities and opportunities are structured by gender and the specificities of the displacement context. It recommends that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and partner UN agencies continue to find opportunities to bring humanitarian policy on gender and forced displacement into conversation in order to strengthen protection. To this end, it suggests that the concept of gender should be disaggregated to address the specific needs of displaced people, to reflect the wider range of identities of displaced people, and to foster opportunities for their empowerment, and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal of Action Research is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH 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.)

This paper aims to examine numerous sustaining factors in the restabilisation of Afghanistan, from legal, logistical and technical perspectives. The significance of logistics and infrastructure for state reconstruction and stability has been recognised by military and engineering practices. However, previous research on Afghanistan has focused on specific areas such as geopolitics, regional studies, bilateral cooperation and international aid. In contrast, this paper examines specialised issues within logistics and infrastructure, i.e., transit rights, access to ports, investors' codes of conduct and the modus operandi of military and engineering engaged in the construction, operation and protection of infrastructure, which have not yet been fully discussed in the previous research. Furthermore, the importance of logistics of multiple shipping routes will be examined through comparative analysis. Considering a prolonged restabilisation process in land-locked Afghanistan, rights of transit and port access are imperative to achieve safe logistics in energy, water, food and medical supplies. In conclusion, an integrated, comprehensive model agreement for multilateral cooperation would enable international aid to be funnelled via a single scheme. Thus, this paper concludes that the long-term stability and development of Afghanistan will be guaranteed through a comprehensive framework agreement for logistics, which materialises rights of transit and port access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades researches have been conducted on different disciplines and in teaching English for specific purposes in different contexts, but teaching technical words for doctors in the context of Afghanistan is the newest subject. The aim of this article is to explore the needs of doctors and prepare them a course to learn English. In Afghanistan, English is used as a foreign language and it is not the medium of instruction in the class because the national languages play the key role in instruction. It is really important for the doctors to learn English in order to learn new information and should be aware about progress, especially in medical. At the same time, most of the names of drugs have been written based on English and it is necessary for them to know English in their own discipline. This paper is written based on quantitative research and Questionnaire was the tool for data collection and it was sent to doctors who were in Afghanistan, particularly. In this research, there were 50 participants and out of them 25 subjects were female. In learning English language for doctors, they wanted to memorize technical words that are very important in their daily works. They wanted to improve four skills of English language as well because they need to communicate with their colleagues. This paper ends with significance of technical words for doctors in the context of Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the utility of critical realism as an ontological foundation for the analysis of education policy in emergencies. By exploring the synergy between critical realism and a method to analyse policy known as Critical Policy Analysis, the paper argues for the use of conceptual analytical tools when examining education policy in conflict-affected contexts. It illustrates the value of theory-informed analysis by reflecting on a recent study of Afghanistan's higher education strategic planning, and advocates for critical engagement with broader cultural, political, and economic factors in the analysis of education policies during conflicts and crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Working as a nurse in a war zone entails providing a unique form of care, and it is important to be well prepared before and during an international assignment. To improve organized preparations it is necessary to understand how nurses previously engaged in a military mission experienced their preparations. Objective The aim of this study is to describe military nurses' experiences of preparations for a mission, including factors that contribute to their being meaningful. Methodology The data comprises eight interviews with Swedish military nurses who served in Afghanistan. The results are analyzed using a qualitative content analysis. Meaning units are condensed into codes which, via subcategories, form categories. The categories are abstracted into an overall theme. Results The results highlight the importance of recognizing challenges and making informed choices. The overall theme shows that adequate preparation promotes an accepting attitude. Conclusions It is concluded that organized preparation for care in a combat environment should stimulate realistic reflection without entrapping one in negative thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the US exit from Afghanistan, the debate revolves around why US intervention in Afghanistan, the longest and one of the most expensive in its history, has failed in defeating the Taliban and realising a durable state-building. The debate considers endogenous factors that explore US and Taliban strategies and exogenous factors that underline the role of regional and extra-regional actors in determining the outcome of the Afghan conflict. This paper, therefore, focuses on faults and inconsistencies within and across US strategies in Afghanistan, i.e., the use of military force, political settlement, and state-building. It also examines US strategies vis-à-vis conflict in Afghanistan under four US administrations -- from Bush to Biden -- to ascertain why these strategies proved ineffective. These strategies have been analysed by following the conceptual framework of Game Theory. The paper argues that US strategies for entering Afghanistan were detached from the ground realities, which was the critical factor for its failure to achieve the desired outcome of the conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insight in how military expeditionary task forces cope with the dual challenge of organizing and learning, by reflecting on the experiences of Dutch expeditionary task forces in post-conflict missions in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. Design/methodology/approach: This paper reflects on the outcomes of a research project into the experiences of operators of different specific expeditionary task forces of the Dutch Armed Forces in dealing with everyday problems in their working environment. The case studies were based on interviews with military personnel of all ranks and focused on relating the process of making sense of environmental dynamics to characteristics of the organizational context. Findings: The case studies indicate that designing and learning become intertwined in the realities of everyday problem-solving in the more complex missions. As task forces are essentially tailor-made for the purpose of specific missions, units initially need to be selected. Subsequently, the design of the task force needs to be adapted to suit local conditions. This challenge interrelates with the everyday challenge for operators of making sense of their environment and finding pragmatic solutions for the everyday problems they are confronted with. In pragmatically solving everyday problems, operators in the cases engaged in working out incomplete or ill-fitting aspects of the task force design. Practical implications: The findings are relevant for military task forces and in general for organizations that are confronted with dynamically complex environments that rely on temporary structures. Originality/value: Existing literature on learning and on organizing generally treat these as two related, but essentially separate, phenomena. In the expeditionary military task forces, operators that aimed to develop pragmatic solutions to everyday problems, the processes of learning and organizing became intertwined: units needed to organize to learn and to learn to organize. The paper ends by suggesting a combination of specific circumstances that influences the nature of the interrelation between these processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses critical discourse analysis and critical literacy to analyze the first in a series of literacy primers developed with US support for children in Afghanistan in the 1980s, called 'Jihad literacy'. The text is analyzed for its ideological content as related to the themes of religion, violence, and martyrdom in the historical perspective of the Cold War and the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan. The paper demonstrates how the notion of 'Jihad' was subverted to promote a holy war against the Soviet invasion. The educational system supported by the US created a radical version of Islam based on violence and martyrdom, shaping the Afghan society to this day. We contend that the same or similar institutions shape current discourses as in the past and that children are the main victims of politico-economic warfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research paper aims to delve into the perceptions of health susceptibility among Iranian, Afghan and Tajik individuals hailing from asylum-seeking or refused asylum-seeking backgrounds currently residing in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between May and October 2022 involving a sample size of 27 participants. An adapted framework based on the health belief model along with previous studies served as a guide for formulating interview questions. Findings: Notably influenced by cultural background, religious beliefs, psychological states and past traumatic experiences during migration journeys – before arrival in these countries till settling down – subjects' perception of health concerns emerged significantly shaped. Additionally impacting perspectives were social standing, occupational status, personal/family medical history, lifestyle choices and dietary preferences nurtured over time, leading to varying degrees of influence upon individuals' interpretation about their own wellness or illness. Practical implications: Insights garnered throughout the authors' analysis hold paramount significance when it comes to developing targeted strategies catering culturally sensitive health-care provisions, alongside framing policies better aligned with primary care services tailored explicitly around singular demands posed by these specific communities dwelling within respective territories. Originality/value: This investigation represents one among few pioneering initiatives assessing perceptions regarding both physical and mental well-being within minority groups under examination across Nordic nations, unveiling complexities arising through intersecting factors like individual attributes mingling intricately with socio-cultural environments, thereby forming unique viewpoints towards health-care belief systems prevalent among such population segments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Relations & International Law Journal / Seriâ Meždunarodnye Otnošeniâ & Meždunarodnoe Pravo is the property of Al-Farabi Kazakh National 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.)

Injury related to blast exposure dramatically rose during post-911 era military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is among the most common injuries following blast, an exposure that may not result in a definitive physiologic marker (e.g., loss of consciousness). Recent research suggests that exposure to low level blasts and, more specifically repetitive blast exposure (RBE), which may be subconcussive in nature, may also impact long term physiologic and psychological outcomes, though findings have been mixed. For military personnel, blast-related injuries often occur in chaotic settings (e.g., combat), which create challenges in the immediate assessment of related-injuries, as well as acute and post-acute sequelae. As such, alternate means of identifying blast-related injuries are needed. Results from previous work suggest that epigenetic markers, such as DNA methylation, may provide a potential stable biomarker of cumulative blast exposure that can persist over time. However, more research regarding blast exposure and associations with short- and long-term sequelae is needed. Here we present the protocol for an observational study that will be completed in two phases: Phase 1 will address blast exposure among Active Duty Personnel and Phase 2 will focus on long term sequelae and biological signatures among Veterans who served in the recent conflicts and were exposed to repeated blast events as part of their military occupation. Phase 2 will be the focus of this paper. We hypothesize that Veterans will exhibit similar differentially methylated regions (DMRs) associated with changes in sleep and other psychological and physical metrics, as observed with Active Duty Personnel. Additional analyses will be conducted to compare DMRs between Phase 1 and 2 cohorts, as well as self-reported psychological and physical symptoms. This comparison between Service Members and Veterans will allow for exploration regarding the natural history of blast exposure in a quasi-longitudinal manner. Findings from this study are expected to provide additional evidence for repetitive blast-related physiologic changes associated with long-term neurobehavioral symptoms. It is expected that findings will provide foundational data for the development of effective interventions following RBE that could lead to improved long-term physical and psychological health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly a century after Afghanistan gained independence in 1919, the question of autonomy and originality in the nation's 20th-century foreign policy remains a topic of contention within the country. Following its independence, Afghanistan found itself in a unique situation shaped by the influence of major global powers' competition. Over the past century, geopolitical shifts have significantly influenced both the internal and external circumstances of Afghanistan. This article seeks to address the query: How did regional geopolitical developments impact Afghanistan's foreign policy from the time of its independence to the events of September 11, 2001? This article is descriptive-analytical in which the relationship between the geopolitics of the region and Afghanistan's foreign policy is examined. The geopolitical situation of Afghanistan in the geopolitical theory of the world order of Saul Cohen has shaped the theoretical discussion of the author, Afghanistan as a quasiindependent state in the geopolitics of the region, not just in the post-Cold War period. The special feature of Afghanistan in the region has been prominent since the independence of this country until now. The findings of this paper show that the foreign policy of Afghanistan after independence in the phases of geopolitical stability and transformations in the security structure of the region is more towards a neutral and balanced strategy. The country has had relations with the great powers of every period and has always distanced itself from such a strategy. It is and the independent or what was once a semi-independent position in the regional geopolitics has evolved into a pivotal and crucial region with the accompanying strategy with great power, coup, revolution and even military occupation has also occurred in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sexual exploitation of adolescents has recently gained international attention and is a major problem in many countries. Afghanistan, a South Asian nation, is one of these countries with a startlingly high rate of sexual exploitation incidents; among these, the practice known as Bacha Bazi has attracted criticism from all sides. In The Kite Runner, Hosseini exposes the terrible Afghan culture of Bacha Bazi, which damages the social and sexual identities of many Afghan boys and has a negative impact on their mental well-being as a result of traumatic events that cause them to exhibit PTSD symptoms. This paper explores the issue of child sexual exploitation in general, as well as the arrival of Bacha Bazi in Afghanistan and its effects on children's mental health in particular, as depicted in The Kite Runner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women face multiple socio-economic, cultural, contextual, and perceived barriers in health service utilization. Moreover, poor autonomy and financial constraints act as crucial factors to their healthcare accessibility. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to study the association between health care utilization barriers and women empowerment, including asset ownership among currently married women in Afghanistan. Data of 28,661 currently married women from Afghanistan demographic health survey (2015) was used to carry out this study. Barriers to access healthcare were computed based on problems related to permission, money, distance, and companionship, whereas women empowerment and asset ownership were computed as potential covariates along with other socio-economic risk factors. Bivariate and logistic analysis was carried out to study the association and odds of explanatory variables. Our results confirm the significant and strong association between the barriers to access healthcare and various explanatory variables. Women having any decision-making autonomy are less likely to face any odds [(AOR = 0.56, p < 0.001), CI: 0.51–0.61] among the currently married women than those who don't have any decision-making authority. Similarly, women who justify their beating for some specific reasons face the greater difficulty of accessing health care [(AOR = 1.76, p < 0.001), CI: 1.61–1.93]. In terms of asset ownership, women having any asset ownership (land or household) are less likely to face any barriers in health services utilization given the lower odds [(AOR = 0.91, p < 0.001), CI: 0.90–0.98]. Accessing maternal health is a crucial policy challenge in Afghanistan. A substantial proportion of women face barriers related to approval, money, distance, and companionship while accessing the health services utilization in Afghanistan. Similarly, women empowerment and asset ownership are significantly associated with health service accessibility. This paper therefore suggests for some policy interventions to strengthen the healthcare needs of women and ensure healthcare accessibility by scaling down these potential barriers like poor autonomy, asset ownership and domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even in intense combat scenarios, a significant proportion of a soldier's time is spent passing the time. Tim Hetherington was acutely aware of this contradiction; of the 240 pages of Infidel, his account of the time he spent in Combat Outpost Restrepo in the remote Afghan Korengal valley, only about one sixth show soldiers actually in combat. The remaining pages depict soldiers maintaining their base, passing the time playing cards, wrestling each other, and sleeping. This focus on the lacunary moments between skirmishes and contacts marks out the work as attuned to a more complex understanding of the nature of soldiering in front line situations. This paper situates Hetherington's work into a longer historical engagement with the depiction of soldiers 'killing time' between moments of combat, and in the context of how the homosocial nature of the proximity in which soldiers live and work contributes to their combat motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing a liberal government in post-Taliban Afghanistan allowed India to fulfil its foreign policy goal, i.e., investment in Afghanistan to acquire leverage for its anti-Pakistan agenda. However, the twenty-year war ended with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, resulting in the Taliban's rise to power, diminishing Indian influence and reversion of its interests. India halted its investment and diplomatic engagement with the Taliban government due to its previous position, which led India to compromise on its strategic interests outlined in the presence of US forces. To safeguard its strategic interests, India has resumed its diplomatic and economic engagement with the Taliban government at a critical time when other regional states are analysing the US' future course of action towards the war-torn country. Therefore, this paper examines how India evaluates the newly structured regional environment while finding a new role in Afghanistan. It also analyses the implications of India-Afghanistan re-engagement for Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Debates on the ethics of disaster and humanitarian studies concern unequal relations in research (among research institutes/researchers/stakeholders); the physical and psychological well-being of research participants and researchers; and the imposition of western methods, frameworks and epistemologies to the study of disasters. This paper focuses on everyday ethics: how they need to be translated throughout the everyday practices of research and how researchers can deal with the ethical dilemmas that inevitably occur. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyses the process of addressing ethics-related dilemmas from the first author's experiences researching disaster governance in high-intensity conflict settings, in particular drawing from 4 to 6 months of fieldwork in South Sudan and Afghanistan. In addition, ethical issues around remote research are discussed, drawing on the example of research conducted in Yemen. It is based on the personal notes taken by the first author and on the experience of both authors translating guidelines for research in remote and hazardous areas into research practices. Findings: The paper concerns translating ethics into the everyday practices of research planning, implementation and communication. It argues for the importance of adaptive research processes with space for continuous reflection in order to advance disaster studies based on (1) equitable collaboration; (2) participatory methodologies wherever possible; (3) safety and security for all involved; (4) ethical approaches of remote research and (5) responsible and inclusive research communication and research-uptake. Openness about gaps and limitations of ethical standards, discussions with peers about dilemmas and reporting on these in research outcomes should be embedded in everyday ethics. Originality/value: The paper contributes to discussions on everyday ethics, where ethics are integral to the epistemologies and everyday practices of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: Limited evidence exists on bacha bazi, Afghanistan's steadily revived practice involving transgenerational same-sex relationships, despite its frequent association with violence towards young males, known as bacha bereesh. This paper aims to fill this critical gap. Design/methodology/approach: The author conducted an integrative literature review using qualitative and quantitative secondary data. An ecological framework for violence was applied to the findings. Findings: The findings offer a comprehensive overview of bacha bazi in its modern form, including the unique health needs, sexual practices, and gender identities and orientations of bacha bereesh. The author reveals how Afghan masculine identities and male-male sexual activity occur in relation to power structures and notions of honor. Numerous risk factors increasing bacha bereesh vulnerability for violence and socio-legal barriers constraining access to crucial services are also discussed. Research limitations/implications: Afghanistan's shame-based culture limits accurate data collection by obscuring the practice and stigmatizing bacha bereesh who serve in feminized roles. Practical implications: The research highlights the inadequacies of applying Western gender-binary frameworks to bacha bazi. It contributes to our understanding of sexuality, gender, masculinity, and male-directed sexual violence within Afghan culture. These insights will help us better address the health needs of this underserved population. Originality/value: The lack of evidence addressing these topics highlights our paper's originality, while the literature firmly linking violence to poor physical and psychological health outcomes emphasizes the importance of its contribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the part played by Sir Henry Dobbs, the 'man on the spot', in shaping the 1921 Anglo-Afghan Treaty. The treaty provisions being negotiated were important to the security of the Indian frontier, internally and internationally, as they defined the formal relationship between India and Afghanistan right through until Indian independence. In contrast with existing accounts, the analysis presented here contends that Dobbs did have a significant influence both on the negotiating process and on the eventual result. It demonstrates how in his role as chief negotiator Dobbs drew on experience and techniques that he had earlier acquired as a political officer in frontier areas. His aim seems to have been to influence matters so that the treaty would deliver on what he regarded as important while giving away nothing that he thought damaging. The article thus sheds light on how—in a novel and volatile context—Dobbs handled differing views in London and Delhi, and negotiated with the Amir. Given the necessary authority by the British Government, he finally arrived at an agreement accepted by the various parties—Afghans, the Viceroy and the British Government in London. The source for this revised perspective on the negotiations and fuller understanding of his role are Dobbs' recently-discovered letters and private papers, previously unavailable to historians, together with a re-examination of official sources prompted by this new material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature of fiscal federalism suggests two approaches to explaining the allocation of intergovernmental transfers. First, a normative approach that considers governments as benevolent social planners pursuing normative criteria of efficiency and equity; and second, a public choice approach assuming governments as self-maximizing actors who use intergovernmental transfers to purchase political capital, enhancing their chances of re-election. This paper seeks to test the hypotheses of these two approaches to explain the allocation of discretionary development budget among Afghan provinces during three fiscal years of 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19. Findings indicate Afghanistan's central government's approach does not focus to achieve normative criteria of improved participation, predictability, transparency, and equity. Instead, Its central government considers certain political criteria such as political affiliation – ethnic affiliation and alignment with central government policies – political importance, and strength and weakness of local actors. This paper relies on both quantitative and qualitative data to support its arguments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan is a direct consequence of structural changes in the polarity of the international system. Following the end of the Cold War, the US emerged as the dominant country in the system, making it relatively easy to pursue a foreign policy based on liberal principles, where state-building and social engineering were among the main principles. While some scholars consider the US withdrawal from Afghanistan a strategic failure of its foreign policy, this paper argues that such action was necessary due to fundamental changes in the constellation of forces in the international system. The main reason for this withdrawal is the economic growth of China and its power projection in Asia and other regions of the world. Therefore, similar US actions can be anticipated in the future. This paper adopts a structural realist approach as its primary theoretical framework and Afghanistan is used as the case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable focus on the widespread destruction of cultural heritage in Afghanistan since the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas by the Taliban in 2001 and much concern over the future for heritage in the region on the return of a Taliban regime in 2021, yet comparatively little has been written on the fate of Afghanistan's national collection of paintings, manuscripts, and works on paper. Through a quasi-experimental study and using a combination of evaluation methodologies, this paper discusses whether the overall impact achieved in conservation capacity-building and training schemes in conflict zones justify the cost and risk of operating in such regions. Using an international collaborative conservation training course carried out in 2020 at the Afghan National Gallery in Kabul as a case study, it discusses the appropriateness and effectiveness of the signature pedagogies in conservation when working in a conflict scenario, and highlights the limitations present in conservation training programmes in post-conflict scenarios and the need for sustainability of such programmes. The results of the study found that common constructivist-focused, Eurocentric conservation pedagogies may not be effective for training museum professionals in regions where this approach is unfamiliar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Afghanistan represents one of the most complex mosaics of ethnic groups in the world and its contemporary history has been characterised by ethnic hierarchy. Pashtuns domination of the country and their discriminatory policies toward non-Pashtuns have had long-term effects in destroying inter-ethnic trust. The hierarchical relationships among ethnic groups have always been an obstacle to creating ethnic harmony even in the pre-war Afghanistan. The paper, by adopting 'ethnic security dilemma theory,' seeks to analyse how and why ethnicity in Afghanistan was politicised and morphed into fault line that finally surfaced in the form of civil war in 1990s. It will discuss the impacts of internecine war on inter-ethnic relations and explores the possible options to deal with the longstanding ethnic security dilemma. Being caught in an ethnic trap, the paper argues, only a meaningful powersharing mechanism can glue the future Afghanistan together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brilliant effect of the Buddha not only strengthens Buddhist believers' psychological effects of worship, consecration, and showing off of merits, but also becomes an important dissemination method to attract the public to join in. Starting from the golden skin of ancient Buddha statues, this paper analyzes the relevant historical documents and unearthed objects of gilded Buddha statues in ancient India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China and pays attention to the body decoration and technology dissemination as well as the process and influence of Chinese localization. In traditional Buddhist culture, gold technology and its application have an important impact on artistic expression, appearance protection, and the psychology of Buddhist statues. In the Late Tang Dynasty, the government and Buddhism suffered conflicts between supply and demand due to gold resources. The forced stripping of gilded Buddha statues became a historical epitome reflecting the deep social and economic problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought in Afghanistan has many impacts from the interaction between environmental and socio-economic factors in the agriculture and water supply sectors. The complex topography and climate change impacts cause high spatial and temporal variation in the precipitation pattern and pose several challenges in managing water resources. Therefore, this paper aimed to quantify the sustainability of water resources against the progression of drought. Observed monthly precipitation data monitored by 23 stations located across five river basins covering the entire country for the period 1970–2016 were used to demonstrate the potential impacts of drought on water resources sustainability. Based on severe drought estimation, the year 2000 and 2001 were identified as change points. Accordingly, datasets pertaining to before and after the change points were partitioned to analyze the long-term temporal shift of drought. The spatiotemporal variability of sustainability indicators was estimated using reliability resiliency and vulnerability concept. The results indicated a positive trend of precipitation in most of the river basins after the change points leading to an increase in sustainability. However, the major portion in the upstream of the Kabul River basin showed a decrease in sustainability of around 15% due to a reduction in precipitation. As the Kabul city has high population density, it needs immediate attention in effectively planning and managing available water resources. Furthermore, the comprehensive analyses reported in this paper discuss the possible implications of drought risk assessment and its impact on largely varying sustainability both spatially and temporally in Afghanistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim/Purpose The integration of knowledge through the transdisciplinary method with the three concepts civilization, ideology, and geopolitics (CIG) enables the analysis of international relations in a new perspective and the informing strategists of countries, organizations, analysts, clients, etc. These three concepts express the transdisciplinarity that offers a new theoretical explanation and the informing science approach. Background The integration of knowledge using the three concepts for the analysis of international relations has found adequate explanations from 1890 until the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. Therefore, the CIG model theoretically and practically finds support for more than a century, as argued in the paper. Methodology The present paper uses a mixed theory based on transdisciplinary methodology and informing science. The literature was reviewed to find and build the theoretical basis and provide appropriate examples. The theory is also based on the model used by Francis Fukuyama in his books on building and dissolution of states (middle-range theory). Contribution This paper enables the rethinking of the limitations of research on a theoretical and practical basis that is done in many scientific circles, not to eliminate others but to enrich science even more. Findings In the paper, the main findings are the following: Integrating the three CIG concepts according to the transdisciplinary method offers a new perspective to explain international relations using the IS method; The integration of the three concepts is worthwhile after 1980, when the model of cabinet governments falls, Bismarck falls, and public opinion starts to emerge; It was after 1980 that theories of civilization and geopolitics began to emerge along with ideologies to apply in practice; These three concepts offer explanations based on a CIG zone and in the periphery of the CIG zone. In the CIG zone the security sphere is more stable and long-term, while in periphery the cooperation is temporary and not long termed; The paper shows that the Cold War period is divided into two periods; The paper also finds that CIG explains with examples the events that happened after the Cold War and until present days; The paper also shows, based on the strategies of the superpowers, how they are extending their influence based on the CIG concepts. The paper also shows new patterns of cooperation and clashes between the superpowers' security zones, which also provide an explanatory perspective for the USA withdrawal from Afghanistan. (We do not talk in the paper about the Afghanistan issue and USA withdrawal). Recommendations for Practitioners The attributes identified by the transdisciplinary implementation of the three concepts express the evolution and behaviour of major policies and, as such, constitute a scheme for practitioners to analyse international relations and build strategies on an integrative rather than an exclusionary basis. Recommendations for Researchers Scientific attributes in the integration of knowledge give researchers a more open and comprehensive perspective to make more accurate and practical analyses of international relations. According to this model, other theories are enriched that use the transdisciplinary method, IS, and the CIG as a model for the integration of knowledge. Impact on Society This type of model enables an accurate understanding of cooperation between companies, their representatives, and the creation of safer areas and plans. Through this model, society no longer belongs to the abstract but is part of the analysis. Future Research Researchers and practitioners of this CIG model can find answers such as "Why did the USA fail in Afghanistan and why was it successful in Kosovo?" as well as other questions about finding a solution for Iraq, cooperation with China, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a conflict model to analyse Majority-Minority relations (M-M), this paper focuses on the Hazara community in Afghanistan. Assuming M-M relations are power relations, the struggle for control among divergent ethnic groups has persisted. The Hazaras have historically resided in several provinces and experienced various forms of targeted violence. Millions have fled to other countries to escape persecution. This research diverges from dominant approaches that focus only on ethnicity and religion as the causes of violence against the Hazaras. Instead, the paper examines other factors that have been largely neglected by conflict studies literature. Based on historical data, the study finds that the Hazaras' geostrategic location in Afghanistan, their alliances with Pashtun tribes, and their struggle for autonomy have been the primary factors contributing to the targeted violence against them. Therefore, while ethnicity and religion may have made the Hazaras vulnerable to violence, they are not the main causes of violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]