Afghanistan

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The Afghanistan crisis is the outcome of decades of internal conflict and external intervention. No short-term solution will resolve the crisis overnight. The narrow focus on confronting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban through counter-insurgency measures often characterised by aggressive military action, arbitrary detentions, indiscriminate raids and house searches has not only failed to reduce religious extremism, but fuelled local discontent and violence. While escalating the war in Afghanistan will likely make matters worse, simply abandoning the country would lead to another set of serious problems. Stability in Afghanistan requires a comprehensive peace process including all relevant internal actors and neighbours. The first priority in Afghanistan is to provide basic security for the civilian population and the second is to build crucial infrastructure. This is a summary list of all the content in the site categorised within the Afghanistan policy area.