Category: Afghanistan

Introduction

Agencies from different parts of the world have urged the government of Afghanistan to implement laws that protect women from violence, early child marriages, and forced marriages. This is the main concern to the society, especially women. If the government implements these laws, it will help in discouraging harmful practices and protect women from violence and get able to exercise their rights. The bill was objected by most of the male lawmakers, arguing that it was against the Islamic culture. This was perceived differently by society. Female students started staging demonstrations in universities arguing that it was a necessary agenda to bring to parliament for more discussions.

The draft and women reaction

The draft; Eliminating Violence against Woman (EVAW) law was under scrutiny. Later on, the president passed the draft, but it had to undergo parliament scrutiny. Women in the society were trying to push the government to pass the law in a hurry before the conservative members started arguing that it was against Islamic laws. The conservative condoned the president in the first place for decreeing to the draft, saying that it was an attempt to impose western values on Islam. Women advocates pushed for permanent laws to govern the rights of women and ban practices that were harmful to them. Some women argued that the draft was not against the traditions of the Islamic norms.

Treatment of women

Women are treated as properties in Afghanistan, and they were fighting against the vice. Men have objected to the provision that will give women rights and social customs, for example, the raising of marriage age of children which is currently at the age of 9 years. Laws should be set aside for men who are found guilty of violating women’s rights, like beating women. Conservative men still live in old age; they try to argue that they know what is right for their daughters, so they have an understanding of the right time to marry them. The law is likely to put women in more danger than benefit as it has not yet been passed. Conservative parliament members have done everything feasible to certify that the law fails. By continuously agitating for the law women have started accessing jobs, education, and public life. This happened after the overthrow of the Taliban. But the position of women and girls in the family is still subversive. NATO forces are said that they will withdraw from Afghanistan, and the Taliban will start to operate again. The women fear that they shall get back to where they used to be some past years ago.

Conformity

Conformity in society helps to describe the social life of men and women. Women’s conformity in Afghanistan is not implemented because they are not allowed to exercise their rights in the development of the nation. With a violation of this social concept, society will experience riots, civil war, and disorganization in whole which is the case in Afghanistan.

Women’s ways of behaving and doing things in that society are violated. The behavior of women and what they are supposed to do is dictated by the men in that society. The woman custom in this society doesn’t hold as women are held as properties and are controlled by their men. Custom is the basic regulator of human social life. Custom helps determine the relationship between different communities.

Social stratification

Social stratification is evident in Afghanistan as men have acquired great status, giving them more power and privileges over women. For a society to grow, the equity should be implemented as both men and women play greater roles in social development. Due to this vice Afghanistan women are continuously deprived of their rights.

Status is the position that is held by one in society. Women’s status in this society is dictated by their men. Women always feel inferior to men, and they cannot question their behavior they might be subjected to violence. Therefore, men are held with great respect, and their status is unquestionable.

According to the status one holds in society, we have specific roles that we have to play. Societal roles are defined by the status that we hold in our society. Women’s role in Afghanistan is not well known as their status is not well defined. Women are trying to fight for more defining status in the society so that in the process of derogating their roles, they can be able to advocate for their societal right.

Conclusion

Lawmakers and religious groups have found out that the real obstacle to women’s emancipation is not the Islamic laws but the male-dominant traditional beliefs. We should join hands and stand together to fight against traditional customs that oppress women and do not conform to Islam. This will help women to exercise their rights, have access to education, and work in government institutions. Women should be able to exercise their roles in any society.

Introduction

Afghanistan has a population of about 23 million. The country is characterized by political instability and occasional droughts that make it among the poorest country in the world. The country is currently under a new government that took its lead from the Taliban rule which had very low regard for women. The Taliban greatly discriminated against Afghanistan women in terms of access to education and employment opportunities. The severe discrimination of the girl child in Afghanistan has rendered Afghanistan women to stagnate greatly both economically and socially (The Situation of Women in Afghanistan Contributors par.1).).

The research reveals that the level of education in Afghanistan is very low with about only 50% of the Afghanistan men considered literate. Surprisingly, the study indicates that 85% of Afghanistan women are illiterate. The low reflection of education attainment in Afghanistan is mostly associated with a lack of proper governance. The government’s per capita literacy allocation in Afghanistan is the lowest worldwide despite the high illiteracy preferences in the region with a rate of 50% of the Afghanistan men being regarded as illiterate and 85% of women have not achieved any formal education.

The continuous negligence of the Afghanistan girl child in terms of access to education and employment opportunities is likely to widen the current disparity in education between men and women in the region to a situation where women in Afghanistan will be considered as a second-class status in some years to come. The Afghanistan government does not seem to realize the consequences of its doing as the region even to date is characterized by very few girls’ schools.

The girl’s school enrollment is less than 50% that of boys. Despite the low girl’s enrollment recorded, there is noted an improvement in the girls’ enrollment as the situation was worse during the Taliban reign, but with its collapse, the current Afghanistan government is doing something positive to remedy the situation. There is much more that is needed to be done to solve the current problem of high illiteracy and lack of employment opportunities for women in Afghanistan (Head par.6).

Discrimination of women in Afghanistan

The women in Afghanistan require to be empowered economically, politically, and their access to education opportunities being amplified. As the new prime minister of Afghanistan, I will do my best to ensure that I address the current business that is prevalent in the region in terms of women’s access to education, employment, and political participation adequately. I will ensure that appropriate policies are enacted and follow them to ensure that they are implemented accordingly.

The policies should advocate fair and equal access to education for all. To guarantee that they are implemented, I would alliance with the ministers in charge of finance and education and ensure more schools are built and proportionately shared between boys and girls. Through this process, the high illiteracy that is present in Afghanistan will greatly reduce. Similarly, I will enact appropriate policies that allow fair and equal employment opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.

These employment policies will ensure that those Afghanistan women that are educated are not discriminated against in employment opportunities. Access to employment opportunities will greatly help the Afghanistan women be empowered economically. Moreover, as the prime minister, I would recommend enacting proper policies that ensure that a certain percentage of Afghanistan women are included in the government senior positions such as being ministers or heads of certain government offices. Once they are empowered economically they will be in a better position to support their families accordingly and particularly the widowed women. They will also be in a better position to actively participate politically since they will be more informed.

Proposed Recommendations

The likely challenge that I may experience in my venture is the resistance of the Afghanistan men and especially those in authority to support my proposed policy of ensuring that the Afghanistan leadership should be comprised of a certain representation of women. To overcome the resistance, I would seek support from relevant bodies such as religious leaders and from the activist groups to help me in supporting my enacting the policy.

Conclusion

Good governance and access to education and employment opportunities will greatly empower Afghanistan women and help them participate in Afghanistan politics.

Works Cited

Head, Tom. “Afghanistan: Women Still Subject to Widespread Oppression, Discrimination.” 2006. Web.

“The Situation of Women in Afghanistan Contributors.” 2002.Web.

Physical geography

According to the report of Library of Congress (4), this country occupies about 647500 square km; however, the following table gives more information about physical geography –

Table 1: physical geography

Source: Self generated from Library of Congress (5)

Demography

Birth Rates, Death Rates and Natural Population Growth Rate

Figure 1: Birth Rates from 200 to 2012

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Figure 2: Death Rates from 200 to 2012

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Figure 3: Population Growth Rate from 200 to 2012

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Population pyramid dynamics

Table 2: Population pyramid dynamics

Source: Self generated from Indexmundi (1)

Figure 4: – Life expectancy

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Human Development Index

Figure 5: Afghanistan’s HDI indicators for 2011 comparing with other countries

Source: UNDP (3)

Figure 6: Trends in Afghanistan’s HDI from 1980 to 2011

Source: UNDP (3)

Health risks

According to the report of Library of Congress (7), health system of this country collapsed from the beginning of 1980s because of military conflict however, health risk is too high because there are only 11 doctors and 18 nurses per 100,000 populations; in addition, malnutrition is pervasive and 800,000 Afghans are disabled.

Net migration in Afghanistan

Figure 7: Net migration in Afghanistan

Source: Trading Economics (1)

Historical and cultural geography

The country has a long history of feudal monarchy, Soviet backed socialism, and US backed democracy along with struggle against terrorism that is destroying the civilization of the country where the administrative unites correspond to the geographic boundaries, strategic topography, natural borders along with the landmarks that encompass overall resource sharing of the state.

From the terrorist attack in the WTC in September 2001 brought a number of unfortunate events for Afghanistan, in the name of fight against terrorism and to finding Osama Bin Laden, the multinational force destroyed its sovereignty, human rights, while the terrorist groups like Taliban and Al-Qaeda have been increasing from the suppressed civilians Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Table 3: Ethnic Group and Religion

Source: Self generated from Indexmundi (1)

• Language: It has about 30 languages (Dari and Pashtu are the official languages);
• Buzkashi is a vital element of the culture
• Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha are the holy days of Afghans
• Food: Afghanistani cuisine

Political Geography of Afghanistan

Duncan, Johnson and Schein (501) pointed out that the contemporary theories of international relations defined political geography as a sub-discipline of human geography that dealt the social interaction, space of physical implication, political identity and the extent of power in the scale of geography and such area of political geography has identified as a vital geopolitics.

The interaction of political geography is not the direct concern of the state, but a small network of major actors of the elite class like foreign diplomats and local bureaucrats who perform in favor of the state would like to recognize their functional values and power in context of geographical identity and it makes geographical reality easy knowledgeable to the people.

On the other hand, under the present unipolar power practice of the United States made it difficult to uphold the local political and economic interest in the international relations of developing countries, rather the geopolitical interest of the USA for natural resource exploitation or strategic location of future securities define the boundaries of political geography in third world countries.

Miakhel (17) explored that provinces are the fundamental unite of administrative function and there are 36 provinces and 364 districts along with 217 provincial and rural municipalities and all of them are divided into geographical locations based on the tribal structures inherited from the ancient socioeconomic culture of this region.

Each province consists of several districts, a provincial municipality while the districts are established with several village council, and at least one rural municipality are represented by the local tribal leaders and to some extents, there are very conscious initiatives to put into practice of democracy at this root level.

Economic geography

Library of Congress (9) reported that the economic position of this country was in unstable position while it faces numerous severe financial challenges, such as, require to replace the earnings generated by opium production, smuggling mainly across the Pakistan border, provincial disparity of wealth, disproportionate monetary growth in Heart, and the threat of social unrest could endanger the present government.

On the other hand, Indexmundi (1) stated that until last quarter of 2001, the Taliban ruled more than 90% of Afghanistan, but after falling of Taliban, the national economy of Afghanistan has recovered and developed significantly after a long conflict due to infusion of international assistance though it is still landlocked, and extremely reliant on foreign aid.

At the same time, Department of Immigration (2) disagreed with such statement arguing that Afghanistan is the poorest country in the world because its infrastructure and agricultural segment have damaged due to conflict, which reduced gross domestic product per capita; therefore, more than six million Afghan refugees failed to recover their financial position after returning to Afghanistan.

Purchase Power Parity (PPP) analysis

Figure 8: GDP based on (PPP)

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Table 4: Gross domestic product of Afghanistan

Source: Indexmundi (1)

Economic Diversification

Agricultural Sector: The World Bank (1) addressed that this sector is the foundation of Afghanistan’s economy while more than 70% of total population live in rural areas; therefore, the national economy based on the agricultural sector and approximately 50% of total national GDP (80% of the workforce employed for the development of this segment).

At the same time, the World Bank (1) reported that agricultural production growth rate is too slow due to the poor quality of most agricultural land (merely 7.8 million hectares of land is arable and merely 40% of total agricultural land is irrigated); however, Library of Congress (10) stated that agricultural production amplified due to foreign aid along with increased rainfall in 2003, which influenced the farmers to cultivate more areas.

In addition, Library of Congress (10) further stated that this sector incurred a number of problems, such as, limited water supplies, delays in the restoration of irrigation systems, severe grain shortage, import reduction, and intensified violence.

Industrial Sector: Griffin (1) stated that industrial sector of this country was in infant stage though the government provided high priority on industry; at the same time, Library of Congress (11) argued that all productions had stopped from 2004 as a consequence of war damage and lack of raw materials; however, only carpet industry experienced success in 2007.

Library of Congress (11) estimated that about 1 million people engaged in carpet industry; however, some small textiles, leather goods, and processed industry become successful in spite of substantial corruption in this segment.

Services Sector: Library of Congress (11) further stated that banking system collapsed during the civil war; therefore, many farmers had relied on opium for credit, which influenced the government to take initiatives to pass new laws to rebuild banking system though these initiatives failed for inadequate security conditions, smuggling and other illegal economic activity.

Works Cited

Department of Immigration. Country Profile 2012 of Afghanistan. 2012. Web.

Duncan, James. Johnson Nuala and Schein Richard. A Companion to Cultural Geography, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2004. Print.

Griffin, Luke. Industry. 2012. Web.

Indexmundi. Country Profile 2008 of Afghanistan. 2012. Web.

Library of Congress. Country Profile 2008 of Afghanistan. 2008. Web.

Miakhel, Shahmahmood. Understanding Afghanistan: The Importance of Tribal Culture and Structure in Security and Governance. 2009. Web.

The World Bank. Afghanistan: Priorities for Agriculture and Rural Development. 2012. Web.

Trading Economics. Net migration in Afghanistan. 2012. Web.

UNDP. Afghanistan: HDI values and rank changes in the 2011 Human Development 2011. Web.

How poor is Afghanistan, and why the country is poor?

Afghanistan is an extremely poor country. Its GDP per capita was just $800 in 2009, and its purchasing power parity took 219th place in the world. Seventy-eight percent of employees in Afghanistan work in agriculture, six percent operate in the industry, and sixteen percent work in the service sector (Afghanistan par. 15). The country’s unemployment rate is approximately thirty-five percent. The most distinguishing feature of Afghanistan’s economy is an increase in the informal sector in recent years, in particular, in the manufacture of narcotics. The main source of income for a large part of the population remains agriculture.

In this way, the causes of poverty in Afghanistan primarily stem from issues with the agricultural sector. In other words, an unfavorable climate, a shortage of appropriate irrigation infrastructure, inadequate land ownership, and a high rate of illiteracy in rural regions determine the income and consequently the standard of living for many Afghans (Rural Poverty Portal par. 14). Moreover, nutrition, health, education, and export levels are all relatively low. Although Afghanistan is rich in minerals, the country’s development has been limited due to its geographic location in mostly remote mountainous areas.

ABC Four Corners program

The program reflects the life of indigenous people of Western Australia, revealing the truth about their grinding poverty, high unemployment, and rampant rates of sexual abuse. However, the Australian government has tried to help them to some extent.

For example, the Ranger program has installed resources such as offices, schools, and shops. Nevertheless, the community has so few jobs that it is almost impossible for young people to find work, which forces them to move to other places. Despite these difficult conditions, the community strives to survive; for example, they have implemented a new rule that prohibits any drugs or alcohol within the community to ensure a safe and healthy environment for their children.

Another substantial issue is the potential inability of people to pay for their power supply, which might push them to close the community altogether and move to the nearest town. Prime Minister Tony Abbot has declared that “we can’t endlessly subsidize lifestyle choices” (Whitmont and Cohen par. 1). Finally, the community worries about the sexual abuse of children. There have been cases in which even 11-year-old girls were abused. Thus, I consider that the community has a future as it tries to develop and improve the situation.

Works Cited

Afghanistan. Encyclopedia.com 2012. Web.

Rural Poverty Portal. n.d. Rural Poverty Portal. n.d. Web.

Whitmont, Deb, and Janine Cohen. “Remote Hope” Four Corners. 2015. Web.

Introduction

There are various issues that are associated with geographical regions especially where political aspects are involved. Some of the issues that are experienced in the Afghanistan and Pakistan due to the border region issues are; lack of trust between this two geographical areas and blaming one another which makes the process of solving the issue so difficult, problem in meeting basic social needs due to high poverty levels, high levels of unemployment and social injustice, and internal displacements of persons among others.

There has been lots of violence on both sides of the Afghanistan and Pakistan border especially after the US was involved in leading war in Afghanistan. The two countries have been in conflicts for a long period of time and various terrorist attacks have been executed as a way of revenging each others deeds.

This paper discusses the various aspects related to the Afghanistan and Pakistan border with much emphasis being given to terrorism in both countries as it is the root cause of the violence. It also gives an insight on the effects of intervention by the super powers like the US and the impacts of the border region issues on the Pakistan society.

Terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Geopolitics Issues

According to the dictionary.com (2011), terrorism is the use of violence and other forms of threats with an aim of intimidating or coercing people especially for political purposes. It can also be understood as the acts of violence that are usually committed by a group of people who usually view themselves as victimized by some particular historical happenings and hence carry out the terrorism actions as a way of fighting back.

They usually gain some backing and support from governments and carry out unexpected attacks which lead to a lot of destruction and deaths as well as instilling fear and confusion among the nations affected.

Terrorists on the other hand are persons usually from a certain group who engage in the planning and execution of violent acts like suicide bombings that are intended to cause deaths of innocent people and scare the rest hence making the chances of perpetrating further terrorist attacks better. Terrorism is spread by the terrorist in a strategic manner as they aim at causing the greatest effect that is achieved by causing as much deaths as possible and also instilling fear and confusion to as many people as possible.

It entails acts like suicide bombing and affects the economies of the affected nations as well as the psychological and social status of the people. Advances in communication has in a way enhanced the perpetration of this evil acts. Other issues that promote the spread of terrorism are conflicts, poverty, social injustice, under-development, inexistence of the rule of law among others. This is because the above mentioned factors lead to lack of unity among the people and hence leads to instability which enhances acts of terrorism.

Although terrorism is perpetrated by people from different religions, Islam religion the Muslims is mostly associated with it as opposed to other religions. This is particularly wrong since Islam is just a religion and some Muslims are against terrorism just a Christians and other religions are although most of them are involved in it and in most cases those who are involved with the terrorism attacks associate it with the religion making the world to view terrorism as an act that is directly associated with the Muslims.

Geopolitics entails a combination of geographic factors and political issues that influence a region or nation. It entails issues like levels of the economic growth and political power in a nation and it is usually unique to a given nation. The Afghanistan for example has a lot of geo-strategic and geopolitical significance as opposed to Pakistan and could attract a lot of interest from the super power and other international relations.

Afghanistan offers better long term strategic prospects as compared to Pakistan in regard to the United States national security interests and regional strategy and hence its greater intervention in the wars. Pakistan on the other hand has some serious security threats due to its geographical location, bordering India, China and Afghanistan with political problems with India and Afghanistan.

Pakistan has less geo-strategic and geopolitical significance for example to the United States as it appeals to the US only on some specific areas like its use a rental estate hence aiding in meeting the US strategic ends. The differences between these two nations lead to their differences in their efforts to fight terrorism (Kapila, 2009).

Terrorism in Pakistan

There is the existence of political crisis in Pakistan as a result of political conflict among the different factions in the nation and security threats from its neighbours especially Afghanistan and India.

Terrorism in Pakistan is a serious issue and cannot be underemphasized as it has been linked with a lot of deaths and destruction and most importantly pulling down the nation in terms of development and prosperity. Terrorism in Pakistan has been executed with varying motives and with the application of advanced weapons hence causing a lot of harm and attracting a lot of local and international attention.

Terrorism in Pakistan can be traced to various causes some of which are; permissive factors such as modernization, urbanization and industrialization which promote the acts of terrorism through the principle of creating vulnerabilities, motivation and opportunities that foster terrorism and also direct situational factors like discrimination, grievances, social injustice or inequality, elite disaffection and lack of chances that allow for political participation for all among others.

Although there has been a large number of terrorist attacks world wide, Pakistan attacks amount to 2.9 percent of the world’s terrorist attacks. This shows that although terrorism is a major issue in Pakistan, it does not contribute much to the general world’s terrorism. It is however portrayed negatively by the media where it is shows it as a failed nation which is marginalized, under-developed, and poor and where terrorism is the main center of concern.

This is however not true as Pakistan has been able to achieve some economic and even military levels that could otherwise not be achievable in a state that experience all the mentioned problematic issues or where systems do not work. Some other evidence against the media claims on the Pakistan’s state exist for instance it is ranked the 7^th atomic power in the world, and its military is also the seventh in the world in regard to the number of personnel who are active in their duties among other achievements.

Some of the factors that have lead to the current state of Pakistan include; lack of democracy which has led to political alienation and deprivation and a sense of hopelessness and lack of power among the people making the nation susceptible to more terrorist attacks. Corruption is also a major issue of concern which has resulted in unequal distribution of resources and wealth among the regions and perpetration of other immoral practices like drug trafficking.

The imbalance is also enhanced by the social injustice and discrimination. Poor education system is also a contributing factor as it does not effectively meet the needs of the country as it was initially set up to suit the needs of the colonizers. Those who benefit from the education system therefore become of no notable importance to the nation as they ought to be if the system was compatible with the nation’s needs.

The prevalence of a weak judicial system also makes it possible for the criminal activities to be executed easily as appropriate measures to the offenders are not taken. The Taliban are also a great threat to Pakistan as it has affected its security through the various attacks it has been involved with and the power it has in the execution of the destructive acts (Bajoria, 2009).

Impact on Pakistan Society

The impact of terrorism and other issues as a result of the Afghanistan and Pakistan border conflicts .is experienced differently by the two nations and also the others that were affected.

Although the United States promised to make the world a better and safer place, it did not work towards achieving the expected results and the situations even became worse in some states or nations. Here are some of the resultant situations on the Pakistan society. The Taliban is increasing in number and their energy in executing their activities hence increased threat to Pakistan.

The society also faces some adverse effects for instance increase in the number of displaced persons, increase in spending on health matters as most people become injured and the poverty levels also lead to poor nutrition hence poor health, and increase in the cost of education as a result of high levels of insecurity and existence of less education institution.

The border conflicts and terrorism has also brought some problems in maintaining the Pakistan’s economic growth as a result of instability and hence the country’s growth domestic product (GDP) is low and the debts are high.

The tourism sector is also negatively affected as tourists do not feel secure to visit the country. The production sector is also affected as the cost of production goes up and the business confidence falls making the business rivals for instance India to take advantage of the situation and exploit it. The foreign investments and stock exchange also decline. Unemployment and smuggling levels is also on the rise.

Some of the recommendations that Pakistan should adopt to improve the situation include; increasing employment opportunities to its people so that they are able to meet their basic necessities and fulfilling its promise of providing basic needs like shelter, food and clothing to the citizens.

This will enhance loyalty and patriotism and everybody will be ready to work towards improving the nation’s condition. There should also be steps towards reducing corruption where the government should enhance accountability in all its activities to gain its citizens’ trust. Justice through the judiciary should also be allowed to every citizen without any form of discrimination so that everyone can feel well represented.

There should also be close relations between the citizens and the government for example through creation of negotiation forums. The government should also invest in the establishment of institutions and departments that are aimed towards improving the living standards of the citizens by providing services like job opportunities, means of airing their views and grievances and enhancing the process of service delivery.

Facilities like hospitals, education institutions and social clubs should also be established as a way of building trust and goodwill between the government and the citizens. All these steps by the government will create a good relationship where everyone will have the urge to work towards making the country a better place (Bajoria, 2009).

Terrorism in Afghanistan

Terrorism in Afghanistan can be traced back in 2001 when the then United States president, Bush, had an attempt to bring down the Taliban government which its people valued so much as it had been a safe haven to the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and all its members.

The US powers towards doing this was not successful as there were conflicts among the various leaders and also the remaining Taliban forces. The situation was worse in the year 2008 as the violence heightened and hence worsening the condition for the Afghanistan’s civilians. The conflict between the United States and Taliban continued as the latter could not bear the pain of losing its powers and hence looked for means of fighting back.

The ongoing border region conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan is basically as a result of tribal allegiances. This is because some tribes have occupied both parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan for instance the Pashtuns and Balochis .The Durand line is considered a soft border by people from both sides and hence it is the source of the conflicts and terrorism attacks between the two regions as either of the two sides want to have the full share and control of the border.

There has been a lot of mistrust and bitterness between the Afghanistan and Pakistan as a result of the long history where they used to offer refuge each other’s opponents for instance Afghanistan harboured the Balochi people while Pakistan sheltered and trained the mujahadeen and maintained the Afghani Taliban. The porosity has enhanced the perpetration of terrorism as it makes it easy to undertake the criminal activities since the communication and transport or movement is easy (Kapila, 2009).

The US in the war against terrorism in Afghanistan after 9/11

It is the 9/11 attack that led to involvement of the United States of America in Afghanistan’s activities with an aim of solving the situation. It did so by attempting to tumble the Taliban government in Afghanistan which was deemed to be involved in the protection of the Al Qaeda. This was however not an effective action or step as it did not solve the problem of concern.

This is because it shifted the problem to the neighboring Pakistan as the Taliban moved their operations into Pakistan as a way of revenging by continuing the war. It is from this time that violence has existed along the border.

This shows the ineffectiveness of the steps taken by the US as it did not help control the terrorism but rather created a more serious and dangerous situation. The US could have dealt with the root causes of the problem rather than trying to solve the issue without prior considerations of the consequences of their actions (Pelovangu, 2010).

Nature of US and International Responses and the World Perception on War on Terrorism

The United States of America seem to be taking a wrong move towards fighting the terrorism ordeal. This is so because of taking Afghanistan and Pakistan as a single geo-strategic and geopolitical entity in its move towards restoring peace and stability among the nations and more especially along the border region.

This can not take place effectively as Afghanistan and Pakistan are two distinct and separate entities in terms of geo-strategic and geopolitical issues associated with them for instance Afghanistan is a class higher than Pakistan in terms of power and region. It is also more economically stable due to the ample deposits of oil and natural gas and taking them as one will definitely not work out well.

All in all there are mixed perceptions and views on the act of the United States of America towards fighting terrorism as some people take it as a selfish act where the US wanted to benefit from it for instance, it is said that if Afghanistan was not geo-strategically and geo-politically important, the United States of America could not have much interest on it and could not have had much intervention as it is the case on Pakistan which is not that well of.

The further terrorist attacks in places like Pakistan, Madrid, India and London are also a clear indication that the more the war on terror unfolds, the more the world becomes unstable and hence the process of dealing with the war has been unsuccessful.

Others however view it positively and see it as a saviour for example the number of terrorism attacks fell by 18 percent from 2007 to 2008 and it has been associated with the US intervention. The national counterterrorism centre also asserts that the number of world wide attacks by terrorists in the year 2008 was 11,770 and the number of deaths was 15,756 while the attacks in the year 2007 was 14,506 and the deaths were 22,508.

This improvement in the stability among nations has been accredited towards the antagonistic efforts by the United States and other international forces through application of intensified law enforcement, new laws regarding counterterrorism, blocking terrorist financing and intelligence gathering and sharing among other strategies (Kellerhals, 2009).

Conclusion

It is evident that Afghanistan and Pakistan are at war with one another and the situation is exacerbated by the fact that the two nations have different geo-strategic and geopolitics significance with Afghanistan being on the lead especially in regard to the United States and other major regional and international powers.

The differences in the nations’ significance has for instance been linked with the United State’s change of priorities in its efforts towards fighting the war against terrorism or restoration of stability and security giving much emphasis on Afghanistan as opposed to Pakistan which is in a worse state than Afghanistan. Terrorism is a great hindrance to economic prosperity, security, geo-strategic sustainability, political power and stability and the general well being of a nation and should therefore be dealt with appropriately from the root causes.

Reference List

Bajoria, J. (2009). The Troubled Afghan-Pakistani Border. Web.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (2011). Terrorism. Web.

Kapila, S. (2009). Afghanistan and Pakistan: Comparative Analysis of Geo-strategic and Geo-political Significance. South Asian Analysis Group. Web.

Kellerhals, M. D. (2009). Terrorist Attacks Fell 18 Percent in 2008, Report Says. US Policy. Web.

Pelovangu, R. (2010). The U.S War on Terror: Is the American Invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq Justified? Web.

Introduction

Afghanistan is one of the well-known countries in the Middle East for its strong beliefs in Islamic and their values. Furthermore, the country is associated with several groups of terrorism, some of them including the Al-Qaida and the Taliban among many other several small groups (Adam, 2010, p.1).

The ever-increasing aggression and attacks on various states by these insurgent groups has led to involvements in its affairs by the United States as a way to curb the spread and the devastating consequences or impacts these groups do. This intervention although aimed at reducing their actions, diplomacy seems to stand a better chance in resolving this stalemate and the problem that Afghans are going through.

Afghanistan is one of the countries in which security has been a great concern and identified as one of the reasons for its slump in economic growth.

Therefore, people can resolve the stalemate witnessed in the country through the employment of proper strategies and ensuring that there is adequate planning, which will require, to a larger extent, the application of diplomacy and other ways such as the use of influential people in the country.

Therefore, as a representative of the US special envoy in the country, applicability or rather employment of varied techniques and strategy will be a great assistance to people in ensuring the containing of the objectives of bringing to an end the existing and upcoming insurgent groups.

Further, the concerned people will achieve the provision of alternatives to growth of opium to other products and persuasion of the people of Afghanistan to embrace other religious groups. The only factor that matters is time, determination, and the will of the people to embrace new ways of lives for their own benefit and development.

Theoretical Approach

As an envoy to the president in Afghanistan, I will employ liberalism international theory in ensuring that the meeting of the three objectives. The theory is preferred as it holds that a state needs to employ its internal philosophy in its politics as its major goals of ensuring that it succeeds in its foreign policies (Viotti & Kauppi, 2009, p.48).

For instance, it postulates that any efforts geared at ending poverty into your own home should provide or act as a stepping-stone to solving the problem in one’s neighborhood. Therefore, people need to solve the problems facing Afghanistan so that they can embrace new styles of living as the case appears in America, where peace is a priority brought because of democracy.

The proponent of this theory holds that the preferences of a state come first before its capabilities and therefore the determinant of the state behaviors. Therefore, his theory allows pluralisms in dealing with issues affecting a state. Preferences will have to vary from state to state depending on their economic systems, type of the government and even their culture among other variables.

This theory of liberalism further more is not limited to the issues of security or politics of the day but covers a multiplicity of issues that the government of the day goes through. Such issues range from economic to cultural otherwise termed as “low politics” propagated by individuals, commercial firms, and internal and/or multinational organizations among others.

This theory also provides space for any form of cooperation and creation of positive relations among the countries involved in the relationships. It further provides opportunities from powers like cultural capital, which fosters socialization and integrations of the countries involved.

The applicability of this theory is that, the American government will employ its diplomatic strategy aimed at eliminating the emergence of armed group and the existing ones by engaging in constructive negotiations with the key leaders involving politicians of Afghanistan.

The problems that seem experienced in Afghanistan, affect American largely, and therefore, there is need to provide a solution to these problems in order for the citizens of both countries can live in a secure world (Anna, 2010, p.13). Since the American country is enjoying peace, it will use the opportunity to engage the key leaders towards embracing peace and fighting these terrorist groups.

Although some of these groups are associated with the government of the day, the leaders will have the assurance of the benefits that will accrue to their country at large if they embrace the spirit and the call of eliminating such groups. Therefore, the employment of diplomacy will take place at first through consultation, entering in agreements and sealing of deals with the key leaders.

They will adopt the engaging of the local religious leaders in the campaign as another strategy to encourage the embracing of religious group that seem not tied to violent extremists organization where they will assist in spreading the message of faith and peace.

Furthermore, the people will enjoy the freedom of association and worship but only restricted to join any faith that people suspect to be involved in criminal dealings. Economy forms another area of concern which will be given ample time. As an envoy, economic growth is an important aspect in a country like Afghanistan.

Opium is a plant that contributed a lot to the evident decrease in economic growth and therefore I will use the economic factor as my strategy in encouraging the citizens to change and farm products that will add value to other lives and stimulate economic growth in order for them to improve their living standards.

I will encourage alternative products like maize farming and other cash crops like rice as they do better in most parts of Afghanistan. International organization will also play a key role in my initiative of ensuring that these armed groups end.

These well-established groups will provide a working linkage between the government of America and the people of Afghanistan. For instance, these groups will provide vocational skills to educate the people on the effects of over production of opium providing them with alternative products, which they can farm and rely on.

On the issue of embracing other religious groups that seem not geared to violent, these international organizations will play a good role in influencing them through seminars and rallies.

Security

Security around the world is a great concern for the US especially after the bomb attacks, which left many dead and wounded. Afghanistan is one of the countries identified as one of the perpetrators and a home for these terrorist.

The presence of these groups has affected economic growth, which in turn has contributed to low living standards of its citizens. Therefore, as a US envoy, this will form a key and most important area that I will need to employ appropriate strategies to see that finally peace prevails and that these groups are contained with a corresponding reduction or rather a complete elimination of their terrorist attacks.

Security is a bigger issue in the Afghanistan, more so the northern and eastern part or rather provinces of the country, which seem dominated by the Taliban. For instance, in August the year 2l10, around 630 attacks were carried out by the Taliban insurgents, which saw around 10 aid workers killed as the largest massacre (Rod, 2010, Para. 4).

The actions of these insurgent is rife to an extent that workers fear for their own life and even traveling from one part to another is a great risk as attacks are rampant. Therefore, as a US envoy, such groups will require to strict measures and therefore, military deployed will serve as one of the alternative to curtail their actions.

The employed strategy will point out those areas that seem much affected as the key target. This will mark the first phase. The military will aim at capturing the key leaders and the commanders (Maria, 2011, p.14).

Afterwards, strategic points all over the country will also be under heavy security to ensure that there is no escape. Where possible, I will seal agreements as the first step to end the attacks by those groups, which will decide to surrender.

Economy

Economy is a vital component to the survival of a country as it ensures the achievement of stability and the prevailing of peace. Afghanistan’s economy is unstable because of the squabbles of is government. The people are the first victims as they decide to join these insurgent groups for their survival.

Therefore, as an envoy to America, a strategy to improve the live standards of the people of Afghanistan will play a crucial role concerning the economy of Afghanistan. Primarily, the people will have the provision of other alternatives of products as a substitute to their opium, which serves no other purpose, but making those slumbers in ensuring economic growth (Peters, 2010, p.3).

Therefore, initiatives will be carried out through out by various organizations at the grass roots in educating and engaging the locals in alternative food production techniques.

As liberalism, the effort will ensure that Afghanistan becomes a self-sufficient country like America avoiding overdependence of donations and well-wishers.

Furthermore, it will enhance cooperation and even lead to reduced number of new entrance in the armies and these terrorist groups and the people will be self-sustainable and able to afford their own food hence becoming self-reliant (Viotti & Kauppi, 2009, p.65).

Furthermore, this move will also reduce the rift and the disagreements between these two countries as people of Afghanistan will start to develop positive attitude towards the efforts done by the American government hence this will lead to cooperation and even further enhance close relations, which will foster unity and peace in the country.

Therefore, liberalism theory of international relations fits in this spectrum, as it will assist me in my strategies and techniques as well as my plans to foresee that Afghanistan embraces peace stimulating its economic growth.

Identity

Identity is also another tricky and critical aspect when it comes to playing the role of an American envoy in Afghanistan, a country whose past experience and relationship with America has not been smooth.

Identification here implies presenting my self as the representative of the America, identifying the areas of concern, specifically the locations or areas that are most affected or hit, which once acted upon appropriately will help change the way people identify the country of Afghanistan.

As an envoy, I will identify to the authority and specify to the government of the day my purpose as a diplomatic.

Therefore, I will them begin to roll up my mission in order to achieve the goals. I will place strategic personnel in various areas as intelligence officers to oversee all the process that these groups engage in. Reports from such officers will provide us with necessary information on the activities and the hideouts of these groups (Maria, 2010, p.10).

When it comes to identification, or the suitable products, various researches carried out will determine the best substitute products that can do well in the area. Religious leaders and some liberal leaders who do not hold to certain views of religious values strongly will play a good role in the initiative of educating the society, more specifically the youths on the right path to take concerning their religious choices and values.

Conclusion/Recommendation

In conclusion, as the envoy of the US, this opportunity though challenging will provide me with a go-ahead to spearhead and lead important tasks of ensuring that the Afghans are liberated from these oppressions.

The initiative includes bringing to an end terrorist attacks from the world and stimulating economic growth through encouraging the citizens to engage in more productive farming, at the same time, assisting in reducing incidence of locals ongoing extremists religious affiliation groups.

These strategies will provide tangible outcomes with the expectation that, the most affected areas in Northern Province and eastern province where a larger number of Taliban, one of the largest terrorist groups will bear fruits.

The officers will ensure the beefing up of these areas with enough intelligence ensuring the elimination of these groups. Furthermore, success of persuading the Afghanistan to avoid joining these violent extremists will also bear fruits, as expected, through use popular leaders that are popular and those who are not extremists in a certain religious faithful.

Success of these strategies will be evident from the reduced cases of terrorist’s attacks and the reduced number of people joining the movements. Furthermore, as evidenced, the relationships between these two countries must become stable and friendly through engagement in activities like trade and other important activities.

Furthermore, it will also stand out when economy of Afghanistan begins to pick because of the alternatives of farming. Therefore, Afghanistan will achieve success upon solving amicably these three objectives, which affect it.

As the paper points out, it seems worth recommending that, the political class of the Afghanistan cooperate and engage wholesomely in the initiative of rooting out these groups and assisting the initiatives of US in ensuring that there is no emergence of such groups. Religious leaders in conjunction with the US will join hands to ensure that they encourage the coming generations to distance away from such groups.

These youths and citizens of Afghanistan need to appear cautious about the repercussions or the remedies of engaging or being part of such groups. The government should also support and outlaw or prohibit the growth of opium in the country rather encouraging the farming of productive crops that can influence or spearhead the growth of economy, which will then improve the living standards of the people in Afghanistan.

Reference List

Adam, F. (2010). The Pity of War. New York: Word Press.

Anna, B. (2010). Rescue the North. The New Republic, 241(13): p. 13.

Maria, A. (2011). World News: Ethnic Militias Fuel Tensions in Northern Afghanistan. Wall Street Journal, 5(2): pp. 5-20.

Maria, A. (2010). World News: Taliban Attacks Lift Afghan Civilian Death Toll Wall Street Journal, 8(4): pp. 6-19.

Peters, S. (2010). Senators Rap War Effort: Afghan Strategy Is Hit by Bipartisan Criticism as Setbacks Stir Up Concern. Wall Street Journal, 11(2): pp. 1-17.

Rod, N. (2010). Security in Afghanistan Is Deteriorating, Aid Groups. Web.

Viotti, P., & Kauppi, M. (2009). International Relations and World Politics. New York: Longman Publishing.

Introduction

Nine years after the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, the country continues to be overwhelmed in mayhem with no noticeable reduction in insecurity, bloodshed and casualties. With no apparent signs of development and steadiness, Afghanistan continues to present the biggest challenge to the U.S. and its NATO allies.

The war that was originally waged to seek and destroy Al Qaeda and its Taliban handlers has taken a new shape after ally and nuclear power Pakistan has been victimized by an extremist insurgency in territory along its border with Afghanistan. Before vacating office, former President Bush promised to rebuild Afghanistan, revive its economy, and free the masses but these promises have turned out to be only empty words. Today, close to 90% of Afghanistan’s budget comes from international help.

As the situation in Afghanistan continues to become more volatile, analysts are trying to suggest what should be the realistic policy goals for President Obama to pursue in Afghanistan.

Whatever decision Obama takes, he will first have to consider how other regional hotspots like India, Pakistan, Kashmir and Iran will be affected. As Obama, continues to weigh his options in Afghanistan, he should be careful not to lose public support that doomed previous wars in Vietnam and Iraq. (Khan)

As the years go by, the situation inside Afghanistan continues to become more unstable. Afghanistan has been termed as the country with the most ineffective and corrupt government in the world. The country has also been termed as having the most thriving narcotics trade in the world accounting for 90% of the world’s marijuana.

The U.N. has placed Afghanistan 174^th out of 178 countries on its Human Development Index and is also the last country in Transparency International fraud opinion index. Although the U.S. and its NATO allies have dispensed trillions of dollars to help the country rebuild its dilapidated infrastructure and financial system, most of the money has found its way into funding military operations.

This has relegated reconstruction and rebuilding into second place and the little that is ongoing has been marred by claims of corruption and waste on the government’s part, support agencies and contractors thus limiting the urgently required development and reconstruction. (Khan)

Realistic Policy Goals for Obama

As Obama tries to come up with the right policy, one thing that he should put into perspective is how the American support has been aiding Afghanistan. In the last eight years, America has spent close to $ 200 billion in grants to the country. However, very little of this money has been used in helping the country. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most of this aid has gone into the pockets of greedy contractors.

What Obama should do if he is to bring peace into Afghanistan is to first make sure that the money given out for infrastructure development performs the intended purpose. If this is not done, it will be hard for the U.S. to leave the country to clear a mess that the Americans helped in creating. (Khan)

Despite the US/NATO sending in more than 70,000 forces, the country continues to witness a growing Taliban uprising. This insurgency has continued to buildup and today the Taliban are believed to be occupying 72% of the country. From 2006, the situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating on a day-to-day basis.

Until date, it is estimated that close to 25,000 have died since the expulsion of the Taliban government in 2001. This trend shows that what the U.S and its allies are doing is not sufficient to help the country regain its self-rule.

From the look of things, if the U.S soldiers continue to stay in the country, then the situation will only deteriorate further since the Taliban’s will not let up their struggle anytime soon. This makes it baseless for the U.S to continue sending in more soldiers in Afghanistan. What is sad is that this is what Obama and his advisers have been doing. (Khan)

If Obama is serious about his desire to restore peace in Afghanistan, one thing that he should do is to seek ways of restoring good governance. For a long time now, Afghanistan has been under a frail, unproductive and crooked government. It is a pity that both the Bush and Obama administration have been supporting a candidate who has failed to win the allegiance and support of the Afghan people.

Karzai’s failure to act and inability to reach out to his subjects has enabled the ejected Taliban’s to come back and fill the vacuum created. Analysts have pointed repeatedly that President Karzai lacks the political will to tackle a background of impunity and to end political meddling in the activities and functioning of the police force.

There has been increasing criticism from both the domestic and international front regarding the Karzai’s policies on human rights and his government’s lack of good governance and fraud. The U.S has continually been criticized for allowing corruption to take root in the Afghan government.

According to analysts, President Karzai is believed to be electing his family members who are connected to the drug trade as high-ranking government officials or police chiefs. It is therefore illogical that the U.S has been supporting such a corrupt man and entrusting him to lead Afghanistan. If Obama wants to bring lasting peace in Afghanistan, he should help the country to come up with a focused presidential candidate in the future. (Khan)

Since coming to power, President Obama has been deploying extra militia and marines to counter the Taliban insurrection. In the early months of 2009, Obama dispatched 30,000 soldiers as part of his plan to tackle the revolting Taliban and the failing security condition in Afghanistan.

However, this has not helped matters and today the U.S is believed to be spending close to $ 100 million in fighting the Taliban rebels in Afghanistan. Although increasing the number of troops especially in Kandahar and Helmand, which are believed to be Taliban strongholds would quell the rebellion; this would only be a temporary solution.

Increasing the number of troops in the country will only mean that America will have to use more money to fund the war and suffer more casualties in the process. The more realistic policy goal for Obama should be to train and increase the strength and ability of the Afghan Security Forces.

This would help the country stabilize at a faster rate than a situation where the US/NATO Forces were in control. This is especially the case since the Taliban insurgency continues to gain momentum despite the high number of foreign soldiers in the country. (Gutman 14)

The American President seems to have chosen this path since he has promised to ensure that the Afghan national force is expanded. Currently, the force stands at 80,000 and Obama has promised to increase this to 134,000 well-trained soldiers.

This force working in coordination with the NATO forces should help in quelling the Taliban rebellion. Although well intended, this expansion program has been marred by corruption perpetuated by the Karzai government.

The U.S has also been found to be lacking soldiers who can carry out this mentoring program. This has caused the Afghan National Police to have the highest number of casualties since 2007. This is something that Obama should seriously consider if he wants to end the Taliban rebellion any time soon. (Gutman 20)

Regional Balance

By looking at the war, one is quick to notice that the Afghan people are not the only ones affected. The Afghanistan neighbors who include Pakistan, Iran, India and Kashmir all stand to benefit if the region has peace. This can be seen from the fact that the Obama administration has decided to engage these regional states in the peace process.

This clearly shows that no attempt at peace or steadiness can thrive in Afghanistan without support from Afghanistan’s neighbors, as they all stand to benefit from a calm and steady Afghanistan, as does the country itself. May be this is a reason why President Obama has announced the formation of a contact group for Afghanistan and Pakistan, that includes all the countries with an interest in the region.

Unlike Bush who approached the matter in a unilateral way, Obama has decided to approach the matter multilaterally. This will help in smoothing out the brunt of regional power rivalries and tensions on Afghanistan. If approached in the right way, this might help in reducing the tensions that has existed between India-Pakistan and between Afghanistan-Pakistan.

This will also help in steadying the sour relations between India and Pakistan that have emanated from the border problem over Kashmir. What is interesting to learn is that despite Iran being snubbed by the Bush administration it has key interest in Afghanistan. For a long time, Iran has been trying to control the narcotics trade, which comes from India and Afghanistan.

On top of this, failure to contain the Taliban insurgency would see millions of refugees to flow into the country. Therefore, Iran has a great stake in the war since a lasting peace would solve the refugee problem and clamp down the drug trade. This means that involving Pakistan, India and Iran in the peace brokering deal would not only help Afghanistan but the concerned countries as well. (Gutman 24)

Future Effect and Possible Solution

After everything has been said and done, it is clear that the U.S needs to do something urgently or run the risk of losing public support that doomed previous wars in Vietnam and Iraq. As long as the citizens continue to see faces of dead American soldiers, the threat of losing public support remains a formidable threat.

What the U.S should therefore do is to look for a quick solution to the problem. Considering that nine long years have gone by while trying to find peace, a time has now come to seek other channels to find a solution to the problem. Despite the apparent misgivings about the Taliban, they are a significant factor in finding a lasting peace. (Coll 205)

Currently, the Taliban controls almost two-thirds of the country. What makes them a bigger threat is that they are Afghanistan people, they are native and they have established enduring power. The reason why the Taliban’s have been able to succeed for so long has nothing to do with military dexterity or external military help. On the contrary, the success has been because of the readiness of many Afghans to exchange never-ending fighting and disorder for a measure of serenity and protection.

This means that it will be impossible to attain lasting peace without initiating genuine and legitimate political ceasefire efforts with the Taliban. If anything, the main reason behind ousting the Taliban’s was to break the “perceived” link that they had with Al Qaeda, a link that was never found.

Although the Taliban has apparently distorted the values of Islam, the U.S should have negotiated with them to hand over Osama bin Laden instead of hastily initiating operation freedom after the proceedings of September 11, 2001. Just like the other factions, the Taliban’s should be allowed to have a share in the government if lasting peace is to be found in Afghanistan. President Obama should consider this option if he does not want to risk losing public support. (Coll 210)

Conclusion

Nine years after the U.S led invasion into Afghanistan; the crisis is yet to be resolved. This is because of the policy goals that Bush and now Obama are using in trying to solve the problem. Although Obama is seen to be taking important steps in solving the dispute, this is not working since his main goal is to protect American interests.

The biggest mistake that Obama is committing is that he is treating Afghanistan and Pakistan as one stage of the same clash. What he has failed to understand is that Afghanistan problems lie inside Afghanistan and the answers can only be gotten from the country.

If anything, the problems that Pakistan is experiencing are the effect of the continued fighting in Afghanistan. If a lasting solution is to be found in the region, the Taliban’s must be included in the country’s political process. If this is not done, America will be standing the chance of losing public support as it happened in Vietnam and Iraq.

Works Cited

Coll, Steve. Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Penguin, 2004. 205-210. Print.

Gutman, Roy. How we missed the story: Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and the hijacking of Afghanistan. US Institute of Peace Press, 2008. 1-26. Print.

Khan, Amina. Obama and Afghanistan, 2008. Web.

The UAE government has a sound and active foreign policy that was established by President Sheikh Zayed. The UAE foreign relations are created on the basis of diplomacy, negotiations and consideration.

The United Arab Emirates, as a member of the Arab union that is geographically located in the Middle East, is considerate to its neighbors and plays a significant role in matters concerning the International community as a whole in the region (US Department of State, 2011).

In order to fulfill its regional as well as international role, it has to ensure that regional, political and economic security as well as respect of human dignity is maintained. Thus, to ensure that this is achieved, its foreign policy is tailored to the principles of partnerships through the dialogue and consensus locally and at international levels.

Due to its economic and political stability, the UAE has a very influential role in Arab affairs in the Middle East. In order to achieve its diplomatic objectives, “one of the central features of the UAE’s foreign policy has been the development of closer ties with its neighbors in the Arabian Peninsula through the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)” (UAE, nd).

Literature Review

The UAE and Afghanistan relations have been greatly influenced by the UAE foreign policy, thus there exists bilateral relations between the two countries. In addition, due to Afghanistan’s security situation, the UAE has a military presence in the country in line with its policy of maintaining regional security and human dignity. Since 2006, UAE has played a more direct role in Afghanistan through its embassy in Kabul (Katzman, 2011).

It also provides humanitarian relief to Afghanistan’s population by setting up hospitals, schools and religious centers all aimed at promoting human dignity (IPS, 2011). Due to the similarity of cultures and religion, the relations between these two countries have been fairly good as the local populations appeared to adapt easily to the UAE foreign policies.

Nevertheless, the issue whether the foreign relations between the two countries have been strengthened or not lies in the constant discussions and dialogues, thereby ensuring that any activities they deal with do not meet any resistance.

During the frequent dialogue between the two countries, they usually take into consideration how to enhance the mutual co-operation between their countries through commerce and other core factors vital to their bilateral and foreign policy framework (Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2011). For example, the recent bilateral trade negations called for development of Afghanistan’s transport infrastructure and aviation industry in order to increase trade and relationships between the two countries.

It is also vital to note that the diplomatic relations between the two states have existed for the last two decades whereby the UAE under the guidance of its foreign policy has provided grants and expertise to Afghanistan to assist in social-economic development of the Afghans. In addition, the Afghans have been always welcomed in the UAE where they have enjoyed easier travel rules across the UAE.

Despite the various changes of regime in Afghanistan, the UAE always maintained diplomatic relations with all the Afghanistan’s political classes and the Taliban because as it continued supporting the Taliban government both politically and economically. Thus, when other International agencies and countries cut diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime and called for sanctions against Afghanistan, the UAE continued trading with it (UAE Interact, 2011).

Nevertheless, with increasing terrorism activities, there was a wide call for sanctions against Afghanistan which resulted in deterioration of relations between these two countries (Anon, 2006).

Due to the current security situation in Afghanistan, the UAE central and core issue in the region is to stabilize security situation in the region which has affected both the economical and humanitarian spheres in Afghanistan. Thus, through co-operation and negotiations with other countries, the UAE has contributed 1.5 billion to enhance security and create institutions that maintain security and stability in the country (Hellyer, nd).

Methodology

Based on the research topic, the researcher applied secondary sources of information as the main form of information for the research. The researcher used his discretion which enabled him to go through large volumes of relevant data both primary and secondary and subsequently select the most appropriate data from published sources which came from books and official websites.

The primary data was collected using interviews and questionnaires. The researcher conducted interviews, via phone and issued online surveys. This enabled the researcher to get first hand information from the sources which is, the perspective of the subjects involved and scholars themselves regarding the subject.

Interviews are an effective way of collecting information since they first establish a close relationship between the interviewer and the interviewees. Through interviews, it is also easy to make follow up when looking for finer details of any interesting piece of information.

Researcher used 50 questionnaires distributed evenly across the study group involved. Due to the large amount of information collected by both interviews and questionnaire data collection methods, they enabled one to conclusively determine the implications of the UAE- Afghanistan relations in the region and what the region could do to increase their diplomatic and economic relations.

In order to ensure that the interviews and questionnaires are evenly distributed, the researcher used sampling method whereby the researcher randomly picked from a group of interested interviewees who were used in the data collection process. The countries and population from which the samples were taken from include UAE and Afghanistan.

Two types of interviews were used. First type is structured interviews whereby the questionnaire was given out to the respondents to fill out their opinions. The other type is an in-depth interview, which does not involve any rigid questions to be answered. The study used the structured interviews to get answers for some specific questions in order to get uniform results from several respondents.

In-depth guided interviews on the other hand gave the respondents a chance to answer questions freely and hold discussions. For the sake of collecting ample information, the research conducted individual interviews several times via the telephone.

The choice of qualitative data collection as the methodology to be used was backed by the fact that qualitative research has the capacity of providing detailed information regarding the way a group of people experiences an issue that is being researched. This type of methodology presents the human part of an issue such as the beliefs, opinions or even the expectations of different people.

The methodology fits in well with the aim of the research in identifying the impacts the UAE- Afghanistan in the region. Such closeness with the respondents in collecting information can only be achieved by using qualitative methods such interviews.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the relations between the two countries are very solid despite the war on the terrorism focused on the Taliban in Afghanistan. The UAE and Afghanistan have their embassies in each other capital cities, and the later has both an embassy and consulate in the UAE.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and after the War on Taliban, the UAE was on the front line in the reconstruction of the country. These reconstruction efforts centered on the UAE’s foreign policy of maintaining economical and social security for its neighbors in the Arab league. Thus, in order to achieve this, the UAE has offered economical assistance through economical aid and grants aimed at improving the life of the Afghans destroyed by the war.

References

Title of Article: United Arab Emirates yearbook. New York, NY: Trident Press Ltd.

Author: Anon, T.

Bibliographical entry: Anon, T. (2006). United Arab Emirates yearbook. New York, NY: Trident Press Ltd.

Summary: In this study, the author describes the humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan have often been interrupted by violence and instability that characterize Afghanistan. Criminal and insurgent forces have continued to threaten the peace and tranquility Afghanistan.

Title of Article: Encyclopedia of the Nations. (2003). United Arab Emirates – Foreign policy. Nations’ Encyclopedia. Retrieved from

Bibliographical entry: Encyclopedia of the Nations. (2003). United Arab Emirates – Foreign policy. Nations’ Encyclopedia. Web.

Title of Article: The Evolution of UAE Foreign Policy.

Author: Hellyer, P.

Bibliographical entry: The Evolution of UAE Foreign Policy. The UAE Interact. Web.

Summary: In this study, the author says that there is basically no hidden interest in the favorable policy of UAE towards Afghanistan. This is because, what UAE is doing is primarily within its foreign policy objectives, which include: feeling of identification within the Muslim community, which entails providing development aid and assistance to fellow Muslims.

Title of article: UAE-Afghanistan: Extradition treaty signed

Author: IPS.

Bibliographical entry: IPS. (2011). UAE-Afghanistan: Extradition treaty signed. IPS Agency. Web.

Summary: This article touches on the signing of treaties, UAE and Afghanistan signed an extradition treaty with two other agreements namely: mutual legal assistance in matters of criminality and assistance, and cooperation on civil matters. The treaties were signed by the minister of Justice of the UAE and the minister for foreign affairs of Afghanistan. The signing of the bilateral treaty was motivated by the desire of the UAE to foster its bilateral, regional and international cooperation on legal and judicial areas.

Title of Article: The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy

Author: Katzman, K.

Bibliographical entry: Katzman, K. (2011). The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy. Federation of American Scientists. Web.

Summary: In this study, the author is saying that since the collapse of the Taliban government, the UAE has pledged US$ 323 million worth of economic aid to Afghanistan. The UAE has also funded projects like the Zayed University which provides education to approximately 6,000 students of Afghanistan and various drinking wells and mosques.

Title of Article: UAE takes action to help promote Afghan investment.

Author: Shaheen, K.

Bibliographical entry: Shaheen, K. (2010). UAE takes action to help promote Afghan investment. The National. Web.

Summary: In this study, the author shows how the UAE has also taken action in promoting investment in the Afghanistan region. The establishment of the Afghanistan International Investment Friends was an initiative founded with the objective to promote and to advise the Afghanistan authorities on better laws and policies that can help spur investment to enhance the stabilization of the war-ravaged country.

Title of Article: Foreign Policy.

Author: UAE Embassy

Bibliographical entry: UAE Embassy. (2009). Foreign Policy. UAE Embassy. Web.

Summary: This article is shows how the UAE has positively and immensely contributed to the international efforts of stabilizing Afghanistan and supporting the efforts to have a peaceful Afghanistan. From 2002 to 2008, the UAE has provided humanitarian and development aid to Afghanistan worth US$ 550 million making it the only Arab country to provide the most humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Title of Article: Government-Political system.

Author: UAE Interact

Bibliographical entry: UAE Interact. (2011). Government-Political system. UAE Interact. UAE Interact. (2011). Web.

Summary: This article explains how the UAE has contributed non-combatant troops to Afghanistan as part of its promotion of international security assistance force. This makes it one of the two main Islamic countries with troops in Afghanistan apart for NATO. The government of UAE supports the transitional efforts to increase responsibility to Afghan authorities.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) operates within a broad framework of foreign policy. The foreign policy of UAE is founded on three main areas: diplomacy, negotiation and compassion. The UAE places the interests of its neighbors and the international community first, particularly with regards to international and regional peace and stability.

The UAE, in order to realize these objectives, has promoted bridges, developed partnerships and promoted dialogue. These factors have helped the government of UAE to pursue an affective and balanced international relations and foreign policy. The demand for justice in its international activities with other states, including the belief in the principle of non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign states is the guiding principle of the UAE’s foreign policy.

The UAE is dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflict and disputes, respect for international law and a firm implementation of international treaties and conventions. It is a member of both the UN and Arab League hence it has established diplomatic relations with approximately 100 countries in the world. The UAE has provided material and monetary support to various countries (US Department of State, 2011).

The relationship between the UAE and Afghanistan dates back to the 1980s during the communist regime when Soviet invaded Afghanistan. During this period, the government of UAE provided humanitarian and financial assistance to the people of Afghanistan to facilitate their fight for freedom.

It was also at that time that the people of Afghanistan were welcomed to reside in the UAE. It was after the defeat of the Soviet that Afghan established its embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1993 and this marked the beginning of a diplomatic relationship.

Humanitarian Assistance

With regards to Afghanistan, the UAE has positively and immensely contributed to the international efforts of stabilizing Afghanistan and supporting the efforts to have a peaceful Afghanistan. From 2002 to 2008, the UAE has provided humanitarian and development aid to Afghanistan worth US$ 550 million making it the only Arab country to provide the most humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan (UAE Embassy, 2011).

Since the Tokyo conference of 2009, the UAE has contributed US$ 1.5 billion to stabilize Afghanistan. Its humanitarian contribution to Afghanistan began in 2003. The UAE Red Crescent has used approximately given US$30 million towards humanitarian aid in Afghanistan. It has made contributions to several projects in Afghanistan. It has also participated in various donor conferences held in Berlin and London with the UAE pledging to support the stability and the rejuvenation of Afghanistan.

The Red Crescent of the UAE has assisted the Afghan refugees by constructing camps for them on the side of Pakistan and providing them with basic commodities in collaborations with UNHCR. The UAE has also donated relief commodities like vehicles, communication equipments, electronics, and office materials (Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2011).

Promotion of Peace

The UAE has contributed non-combatant troops to Afghanistan as part of its promotion of international security assistance force. This makes it one of the two main Islamic countries with troops in Afghanistan apart for NATO. The government of UAE supports the transitional efforts to increase responsibility to Afghan authorities.

Consequently, the UAE took part in NATO’s summit on Regional Economic Cooperation Conference held in Lisbon, Portugal. The summit enabled the UAE to understand the link between security and economy and hence prompting it to hold an investment conference on Afghanistan that targeted three main areas: infrastructure, mining and agriculture (UAE Interact, 2011).

Military Mission

The UAE has its military personnel in Afghanistan for defense, which is in line with the constitution of UAE. The UAE military on the ground protects humanitarian services as well as enhancing security of the local communities. The modern milestone made in vital sectors like the healthcare, educational and infrastructural development has been achieved with the help of the UAE military personnel.

The forces are also active in the promotion of Islamic culture (UAE Embassy, 2009). The UAE troops in Afghanistan have been functioning since 2004, and it is the only Arab force in the country. This force operates in the southern region of the country, specifically in the Uruzgan province where it has been well received by the local population there. Just as provided by the constitution of UAE, the armed forces in Afghanistan only serve defense purposes due to the constitutional principle.

The UAE only endeavors to extend its protection to the people of Afghanistan that it offers to its citizens to her neighbors in the field of national security (UAE, n.d.). The military is also used to perform culturally sensitive and other development activities by supplementing the work of the humanitarian organizations.

Provision of Aid and Building of Infrastructure

The UAE has actively contributed to the reconstruction of Afghanistan; this year (2011), the foreign minister of UAE announced that it will donate US$ 250 million towards the reconstruction of Afghanistan. The aid was to be managed by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development.

The aid was to be used in developing areas of housing for orphans, disabled people and the widows and the rehabilitation of the country’s cities and states. The donation, according to the UAE government was an appreciation of the progress made by the Afghan government despite the difficult times. The two governments have signed a memorandum of understanding on various fields that might require further consultation, particularly agreements on political cooperation.

The UAE citizens have also made private contributions of around US$ 22 million towards the rebuilding of Afghanistan. Through these donations, several schools, heath institutions, libraries and mosques have been developed. The creation of the Islamic fund by the UAE was primarily aimed at assisting the people of Afghanistan after the military intervention by US (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2011).

Since the collapse of the Taliban government, the UAE has pledged US$ 323 million worth of economic aid to Afghanistan. The UAE has also funded projects like the Zayed University which provides education to approximately 6,000 students of Afghanistan and various drinking wells and mosques (Katzman, 2011).

Promotion of Investment

The UAE has also taken action in promoting investment in the Afghanistan region. The establishment of the Afghanistan International Investment Friends was an initiative founded with the objective to promote and to advise the Afghanistan authorities on better laws and policies that can help spur investment to enhance the stabilization of the war-ravaged country.

The group would help advice the government on the need to put legislation in place that could protect foreign investment, promote economic growth and facilitate the creation of employment (Shaheen, 2010).

Treaties uniting the two Countries

On the signing of treaties, UAE and Afghanistan signed an extradition treaty with two other agreements namely: mutual legal assistance in matters of criminality and assistance, and cooperation on civil matters. The treaties were signed by the minister of Justice of the UAE and the minister for foreign affairs of Afghanistan. The signing of the bilateral treaty was motivated by the desire of the UAE to foster its bilateral, regional and international cooperation on legal and judicial areas (IPS, 2011).

Aviation Industry and Foreign Policy

The UAE was among the only three Arab countries that recognized Taliban as the legitimate government in Afghanistan; the other two were Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. During the Taliban regime, the UAE gave lee way to Ariana, the Afghan airlines to continue operating its services.

This was a recipe of smooth financial flows and development of organic relations between the two countries. These relations, however, was strained by the imposition of sanctions on Taliban by the UN, following the September 11 attack, UAE completely disabled its relationship because the Taliban was implicated as one of the prime supporters and sponsors of terrorists.

Despite the UAE support for the US-led war on Afghanistan, it has maintained its presence and support of Afghanistan’s people by being the only visible country aiding in humanitarian and reconstruction efforts as well supporting the civilians and refugees (Encyclopedia of the Nations, 2003).

Any hidden interest in the UAE Foreign Policy

There is basically no hidden interest in the favorable policy of UAE towards Afghanistan. This is because, what UAE id doing is primarily within its foreign policy objectives, which include: feeling of identification within the Muslim community, which entails providing development aid and assistance to fellow Muslims.

The UAE value their Arab identity and this guides its foreign policies and relations with Arab countries like Afghanistan. Consequently, the UAE is interested in establishing peace and stability within its Gulf neighbors and states of the peninsula; it is within this framework that the UAE is interested in the promotion of close relations with all the states that it shares similar religion, history, language, culture and tribal affinities with, which it is applying in Afghanistan (Hellyer, n.d.).

Supplementary role of UAE Military in Afghanistan

The humanitarian assistance and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan have often been interrupted by violence and instability that characterize Afghanistan. Criminal and insurgent forces have continued to threaten the peace and tranquility Afghanistan.

These factors have prompted the deployment of troops to serve three main purposes: protection of personnel working for the humanitarian organizations, provide enough security that is necessary for the humanitarian efforts and projects to succeed and to enhance the security, safety and stability of the local environment (Anon., 2006).

Conclusion

The government of the UAE has been paying a lot of attention on Afghanistan despite the country being ravaged by conflicts. The UAE provided financial and political assistance to the insurgents who fought in the Soviet Union. Immediately, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, UAE came as one among the few governments that recognized the Taliban authority.

This was because Taliban controlled around ninety percent of the Afghanistan territory. It is through the reconstruction efforts of the UAE that have led to massive school enrolment, which is a direct result from the increased construction of schools and other learning institutions. The UAE has generally made a huge contribution towards the stabilization of the Afghanistan nation, and thus the stabilization of the whole region in general.

References

Anon. (2006). United Arab Emirates yearbook. New York, NY: Trident Press Ltd.

Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. (2011). Afghanistan – UAE. Afghanistan Embassy – UAE. Web.

Encyclopedia of the Nations. (2003). United Arab Emirates – Foreign policy. Nations’ Encyclopedia. Web.

Hellyer, P. The Evolution of UAE Foreign Policy. The UAE Interact. Web.

IPS. (2011). UAE-Afghanistan: Extradition treaty signed. IPS Agency. Web.

Katzman, K. (2011). The United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U.S. Policy. Federation of American Scientists. Web.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (2011). UAE pledges US$ 250 mn for reconstruction in Afghanistan: Abdullah bin Zayed. Ministry of Foreign Affairs- UAE. Web.

Shaheen, K. (2010). UAE takes action to help promote Afghan investment. The National. Web.

UAE Embassy. (2009). Foreign Policy. UAE Embassy. Web.

UAE Embassy. (2011). Foreign policy. UAE Embassy. Web.

UAE Interact. (2011). Government-Political system. UAE Interact. Web.

UAE. UAE Policy for the Provision of Direct Support to Afghanistan. Abu Dhabi Sites. Web.

US Department of State. (2011). Background Note: United Arab Emirates. State Government. Web.

In a more instinctive manner, there is need to redefine Afghanistan’s security, economy and identity in order to minimize the increasing rate of poverty, tension and insecurity in the country (Kinsman, 2006). According to neoliberal theorists, Afghanistan has lost its ability to pursue self-interests in the international realm.

Evidence derived from comprehensive analysis indicates that lack of human security; poor narcotic economy and identity crises have affected the rate of development in all sectors of the economy. Underdevelopment in the country has been manifested through low gross domestic production, literacy level, low life expectancy, frequent attacks and identity tension. This implies that firm steps must be taken to eradicate insecurity, violation of human rights and economic decline.

By so doing, this guarantees increase in national security, economic growth and identity achievement (Kinsman, 2006). Furthermore, protection of human rights will help to overcome identity conflicts. Recently, economic relation theorists have raised concern on the state of economy, security and national identity in Afghanistan (Manley, 2007).

Moreover, the theories have constantly insisted on the essence of national security, economic development and identity in response against international pressures. It is on this ground that this paper attempts to address and recommend how the economy, security and identity in Afghanistan can be eradicated.

Theoretical approach

From a theoretical perspective, it is evident that Afghanistan has lost its capacity to govern its self-interests in the international sphere (Kinsman, 2006). From a liberalist perspective, every country needs to have a central role to play in the international cooperation. Failure to this, the theorists perceive the state to have lost its power to the core states (Manley, 2007).

Due to problems related to security, identity and economy, Afghanistan is unable to govern its national interest and thus can not offer a direction of its policies without external influence. To some extent, it has become a threat to international security due to Al-Qaida terrorist groups (Manley, 2007. However, these problems have been discussed in details below.

Security

It is apparent that security in Afghanistan has posed a great threat to the economy and identity of the citizens in particular (Ghaznizada, 2010). Evidence has been derived from the fact that the US army has been doubled to ensure security in the country as at 2009. For a long time, the US army has focused its effort in the country in order to eradicate the remnants of the warring groups (Manley, 2007. Frequent wars have left the country unstable for development and as well threatening the international community.

Numerous steps have been made in the effort to increase security. Such include establishment of a transitional government and consultative forums through which a new constitution have been formed (Kinsman, 2006). According to the liberalists, the survival of the country will only be determined by the present state.

An objective has been set on how to defeat armed insurgent and terrorist groups in Afghanistan. It is imperative to note that though efforts have been made to enhance national security, such agenda has been left in the hand of coalition allies and NATO forces (Kinsman, 2006). Nonetheless, security enhancement in Afghanistan requires comprehensive strategies in order to achieve better results.

From the perceived evidence external force from NATO and USA might not make a predominant change toward the current state unless the critical demands of the warring Taliban are met (Ghaznizada, 2010). Liberalist confirms that there can be no improvement in the security sector unless efforts are made to develop the economy and suitable political wing.

In this case, it is perceived that such sectors are likely to evoke violence whenever there is any form of imbalance. Nevertheless, there rose a huge controversy over who is responsible for enhancing security in Afghanistan. According to liberal theories, the state should take a legitimate position in ensuring the security of the population.

However, critics have given their views upon US, UN and NATO role in enhancing security in Afghanistan. Liberalists are against the idea through which the US army uses force to ensure security and protection of human rights in Afghanistan (Ghaznizada, 2010). To them, they perceive this as imperialism of the highest degree. In this case, they argue that great powers tend to assert their power over younger nations and thus they deprive them their self interests.

According to this theory, a country should be set free since it understands its indigenous problems better and freedom from the contemporary challenges lies on the hands of the nationals. For this reason, issue of security in Afghanistan has been of great concern in the international relation realm.

Recommendations have been made permitting the government to delegate some of its responsibilities to international agencies and external military forces. Additionally, commercial and non-government, organizations, should reinforce the government in bearing the ultimate responsibilities (Ghaznizada, 2010).

Notably, we can not ignore the fact that though liberalists insist that the indigenous government should assume the role of fostering security, there are some constraints. For instance, Afghanistan government has been prone to shortage of resources, poor political ideologies and historical needs.

In this case, there is a huge dilemma on how security can be enhanced through such a fragile political base. Therefore, external efforts from the US army, UN and NATO have made a tremendous mark in reinforcing the government to combat insecurity in Afghanistan (Kinsman, 2006).

From a status review, it is evident that the US troops has unlimitedly donated resources in order to reconstruct the country irrespective of several limitations face. In this case, liberalists do not dismiss the role played by the ally groups. Furthermore, they confirm that there is need for there to be an international consensus in order to foster unilateral actions of rebuilding the country’s security.

As mentioned earlier, it is therefore advisable to employ combined efforts where the indigenous government and the international organizations such as NATO, UN and US army will work together to enhance security in Afghanistan (Kinsman, 2006). In line with this, there are several recommendations in which this security as a major objective can be achieved in order to enhance ultimate success in Afghanistan.

One of the recommendation involve establishment of provincial reconstruction teams (Manley, 2007. These teams are essential in ensuring that security reforms are followed strictly. Such reforms include disarmament and demobilization policies. In line with this, such teams strengthen the government’s ability to administer at the provincial and district levels.

Another recommendation is use if international military to intervene and fight against terrorism. By so doing, this will help to establish both domestic and national security (Kinsman, 2006).

In addition to this it is recommended that programs of demilitarization, reintegration and demobilizations should be formulated. Moreover, the programs should be well designed in order to reduce heavy armaments and acceleration of training activities for the terrorist groups. Such programs also help to devise alternative means of training and employing middle-level forces.

That not withstanding, it is also recommended that the country’s national army should be adequately trained (Radek, 2004). This makes them to become more equipped to fight and combat terrorist groups. This also enhances their warlord power over the existing militia terrorists.

The government should also give them incentives in order to foster cooperation. In the long run, it will be possible to achieve national integration and security. Other than international organizations, there are other tools that can be used to ensure ultimate security in Afghanistan. For instance, the non-governmental organizations can be used to enhance a humanitarian security aid that is vital in rebuilding the nation.

In addition to this private sectors can also be used to reinforce the state’s efforts in providing security services and other primal responsibilities (Radek, 2004). It is also advisable to use numerous tools that are diplomatic, economic and military while addressing the problem of security.

International groups have used military tactics that has been successful in combating warring groups. Besides this, they have also used economic tactics such as providing the country with food donations and medicine for the population (Kinsman, 2006).

Economy

Insecurity in Afghanistan has resulted to grave challenges toward the country’s economy. It thus beyond doubt to comment that the economic development in Afghanistan lingers an outlying hope (Anon, 2009). The viability of the economy highly depends ultimately on the presence of a legitimate government.

Researchers conform that the current state of the economy is almost collapsing. It is imperative to note that Afghanistan economic trend is not sustainable to support the demands of the population. The lucrative trade of opium products has been posed by enormous international threats (Anon, 2009). In this case, there exist three categories of the economy.

There is the war, shadow and coping economy and each has its own dynamics. However, it is evident that the economy has been faced by stiff challenges thus making the rate of living to be very high. Since the economy highly relies on farming farmers lack incentives and economic security thus they tend to collaborate with criminals and terrorist (Anon., 2008).

Therefore, they purchase poppies which they later convert to narcotic drugs for sale. After a period of time Afghanistan economy was turned into an illicit one and has been countered by the west. It is important to note that under such an economy, the country has not been able to resist threat from military group and pressures from the west.

Furthermore due to the increased pressure, we can refer to the economy as a “war economy” (Anon, 2009). This is due to the fact that international power holders have always question Afghanistan government for allowing such an illicit economy. Moreover, the nationals put pressure to the government since it was unable to cater for their upkeep. Forcefully, they transited into the illegal economy in order to advance the opportunities for existence.

However, efforts have been made to transform the economy from drug dealing to a more legitimate one (Anon., 2008). That’s not withstanding, transforming the economy is not a smooth sail since it requires a collective efforts in order to enhance better systems of security and development. In this case, there are recommendations that should be taken into consideration in order to eradicate the illicit economy and as well promote sustainable growth.

According to liberalists, a change can not be achieved in the traditional ways always. Therefore, there is need to integrate multiple means In order to eradicate economic challenges. For instance, one of the most suitable tools involves use of economic tactics. Examples of such tactics include providing alternative means in which farmers would generate viable money, provide incentives and enhancing economic security (Anon, 2009).

Moreover, the government should also castigate opium growers and as well the distillers in order to eradicate risks associated with nominal illegality. Establishment of security institutions would also make it hard for traffickers to smuggle the drug. According to liberalists, the government should make the demands of the people to be superior and thus such illegal activities are justifiable since they are means of attaining basic amenities.

In this case, there should be economic incentives that need to motivate people to abandon the illicit activities (Anon, 2009). For instance, diversification of food crop might not be effective unless the government provide the people with infrastructural facilities. The international organizations have played a large part in fostering economic security in Afghanistan in the past 6 years.

International relation has established counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan. For instance, the USD agencies have declared a Jihad for the poppy production through sentiments such as drug control strategies. Instead, the US agency has tried to encourage licit agriculture and this has made poppy production to drop by 37% as at 2007 (Anon, 2009).

However, I recommend that non-governmental organizations to be used as tools that will reinforce the government in encouraging licit farming. Notably, efforts have been made to finance licit agriculture such as availing affordable farm equipments, quality seeds and fertilizers (Anon, 2009).

Moreover, other international agencies such as the NATO have encouraged small scale businesses by providing financial aids in terms of loans. This has facilitated toward the growth of agro-processing and crop exports. Foreign aid and engagement from external agencies have emerged crucial for rebuilding Afghanistan’s economy (Kinsman, 2006).

Due to the fact that the country still remains poor, liberalists confirms that there should be an increased role in which the indigenous government takes to promote economic growth (Kinsman, 2006). Therefore, it is recommended that for there to be economic progress the government of Afghanistan should be autonomous of eternal influence to determine the fate of its people.

Nevertheless, this can be very tricky since the government has been unable to eradicate the peace spoilers in favor of illicit activities. For this reason, no matter how much we try, it is impossible to do away with external organizations such as UN, US and NATO agencies (Anon., 2008). In this case, it is upon the government and international community to come together to foster comprehensive economic growth in the nation.

Identity: The issue of identity has been debated upon in the international relations arena. In this case, international relation has devised tools and recommendations concerning identity as a political problem. In the context of Afghanistan, there exist two components of identity namely ethnic and religious identity. According to liberalists’ view, identity crises are inevitable particularly when a country is at its initial stages of political, social and economic evolutions.

It is on this ground that the international relations aim to persuade Afghans to embrace religious beliefs that are not tied to violent extremist organizations. It is apparent that in Afghanistan there are several religions such as Islam and Christianity. However, Islam has the majority of the population. Ethnic identity guards the people toward their historical and social groups (Phillips, 2011). In this case, different ethnic groups have different values and relations.

From the period of independence, Afghanistan has faced identity crisis even though there are no clear boundaries distinguishing each group. However, different identities in line with ethnicity have been used as a political tool thus creating tension. However, there have been factors that have influenced people’s identity. For instance the central government has played a major role in influencing people’s identity in a way through education and the media (Radek, 2004).

The main goal of the government was to establish a common social identity referred to as the Pashtuns. The issue of identity has given rise to many challenges since there are people who decline to associate themselves to a particular identity. Due to identity tension, some people have denied their own identity and other have opted to keep it a secret for fear of confrontations.

Differing upon a common identity has made the country to lack a national familiarity and thus it become complicated to define Afghanistan in the international arena (Phillips, 2011). It is imperative to mention that by paying much attention on the traditional social groups people have been resented and thus decline to associate themselves to a particular social group.

Therefore, due to resentment these groups waste time in acrimonious activities rather that taking time to develop an identity. For instance, there had been a Jihad war among the communist coup during the evolution of national identity (Radek, 2004). This war caused division among social groups each undertaking its own national duty on its own volition.

However, the international relation agencies have tried to persuade the Afghans to embrace ethnic and religious beliefs that are not tied to violent extremist organizations. To achieve this goal several recommendations can be used to ensure success.

For instance the international community, Afghanistan’s government and non-governmental organizations should encourage education for all (Kinsman, 2006). Through a unified education system it becomes easier to integrate individuals of different identities to interact and thus accept individual differences without tension. In the long run, education will help to weaken ethnic divisions (Narayanan, 2010).

Moreover, it is recommended that international relation should try to persuade the Afghan’s government to increase large number of ethnic groups being represented in the central government (Manley, 2007. According to liberal theory, separate social groups have various demands to make depending on the national needs.

Therefore it is not enough to let few ethnic groups such as Pashtuns and Tarjik to represent other groups (Radek, 2004). In this case, to achieve an identity, there is need for a larger representation by strongly-developed ethnic and religious groups in the government. In a shift of focus, the only tool that is suitable in solving identity problem is the Afghan government. This is due to the fact that it is only the government that understands the indigenous difficulties concerning identity.

Conclusion

Imperatively, liberal theory is the best theories when addressing and giving recommendations to be followed to achieve success in terms of security, economy and identity issues in Afghanistan (Manley, 2007. The theorists conclude that security in Afghanistan has gone past the call for auxiliary international forces to in the country.

However, It should not be enforces by increased armed force against the nationals but through a genuine reconciliation at the national level. This will help in addressing the grievances and demands of the Afghans. On the other hand, regardless of the wavering hope on the economy collective efforts can help to achieve sustainable growth of licit economy as opposed to the vast growing lethal economy. Concerning the issue of identity, Afghans need to identify themselves with non-extremist identity.

By so doing, the country will be able to bear the external critics in the international arena. In a nut shell, problems of security, economy and identity can only be addresses through integrated approaches. Therefore, a combined effort from the government, international agencies (NATO, US, UN) and non-governmental organizations are required to see these problems solved.

References

Anon. (2008). Asia: No quick fixes; Afghanistan’s opium poppies. The Economist, 387(8585), 54.

Anon. (2009). Opium Takes Over Families and Villages in Afghanistan. News for You, 57(41), 3.

Ghaznizada, W. (2010). Afghan Air Force training facilities rebuilt after 20 years. Web.

Kinsman, J. (2006). Afghanistan comes home. Policy Options, 28(1), 58-61.

Manley, J. (2007). Afghanistan: meeting the development challenge. Policy Options, 28(9), 6-12.

Narayanan, D. (2010). Afghanistan: Emerging From the Rubble. Web.

Phillips, M. (2011). An Airline Magazine That Makes Travelers Want to Pull the Rip Cord: Safi Shows the Real Afghanistan, From Dog Fighting to Dry Swimming Pools. Web.

Radek S. (2004). Meanwhile, in Afghanistan. National Review, 56(19), 34-36.