Afghanistan

Afghanistan and Politics An Examination of Nation Building in Afghanistan and East Timor Afghanistan is a shattered society. The participants in the Bonn Conference have set for the leaders and people of their country the formidable challenge of consolidating the peace process in less than three years. But it will take much more than 36 months to heal the wounds left by 23 years of war. The process of healing has started, however, and the members of the international community

Afghanistan is one of the most impoverished, war-torn nations of the world. More than two decades of foreign occupation and ensuing conflict resulted in pushing the country towards its state fragility. Law, democracy, and constitutionalism exist as mere constitutional pronouncements. Given the fragile situation in the country, I have always been interested to work in the spheres that cover democracy, rule of law, human rights and good governance. As an Afghan woman, I have faced many problems in

Afghanistan is a landlocked, multiethnic country located towards the heart of south-central Asia, and is primarily Islamic. The country itself is composed mostly of rugged, mountainous terrain due to the presence of the Hindu Kush mountain range, which divides the country between the arid deserts south of the Hindu Kush, and the more nutrient rich farmlands in the north. There are two main ethnicities: Pashtun, who reside primarily south of the Hindu Kush and the Tajik, who are primarily dispersed

Before the Taliban came into power in 1996, laws in Afghanistan were remarkably different. In 1964, “a new constitution [created] a modern democracy with free elections, equal rights, freedom of speech, universal suffrage, and [allowed] women to enter into politics” (“Timeline Women’s Rights in Afghanistan”). Women’s rights began to improve further during the late 1970’s. During 1978, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan took over the government resulting in the separation of government and

The instability, created by a decade of internal conflict in Afghanistan, allowed for outsider groups, such as the Soviet Union and later the Taliban, to seize power there. Even before the Soviet Invasion, Afghanistan was burdened with political instability, which stemmed from a lack of leadership at the presidential level and a power struggle between America and the USSR for access to the Afghan elites. This period of instability began under President Mohammed Daoud, who himself took power through

Country History of Afghanistan Throughout history Afghanistan has served as a focal point for the movement of people, goods, and ideas due to its central location linking East Asia with that of the Arabian Peninsula. The land has seen conflict and warfare with the passage of great empires to include those of Alexander the Great, the Ghaznavids, three Anglo-Afghan wars, the Soviet-Afghan war, as well as the GWOT, of which Afghanistan plays an integral role. The independent, fractious, and culturally

Analysis Historically Afghanistan and Pakistan have had a good relationship. During the 1980s, Afghan refugees used the Durand Line border to flee the soviet takeover of their country. With funds aid from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Pakistan hosted over 3 million Afghans at various refugee camps. In 1999, the United States gave $70 million in assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan. Pakistan also became the major training ground for the Mujahideen rebel fighters who fought

music, cultural traditions, religion, and political transformation have all occurred in this historic land. Ancient History The area that is known now as Afghanistan has been occupied by humanity for thousands of years, marking it out as one of the earliest settled lands. Due to its location almost directly in the center of southern Asia, Afghanistan has been a heavily trafficked area for millennia and has seen numerous cultures pass its borders throughout the years (Habibi, n.d.). This constant traffic

Anderson). The Taliban ruled Afghanistan for a short period of time and their rules neglected women and treated them as second-class citizens. The strongly enforced laws imposed, shifted the beliefs of how Afghan men treat and regard women in their society. An eighteen-year-old woman was interviewed for this essay with the purpose of showing any significant cultural shifts that have occurred in Afghanistan during the last thirty years. My interviewee migrated from Afghanistan with her family after the

Although the Taliban was able to provide economic growth in Afghanistan, it was at the expense of global addiction. Further, economic growth was short lasting because in 2001, the Taliban banned opium production as a result of overproduction and a significant price decrease. The ban did increase opium prices, however it “had devastated many farmers, who were left with large unpaid loans to drug dealers and no source of income”(Descent into Chaos 320). Opposition to the Taliban therefore increased