Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy
Council Special Report from Center for Preventive Action
Council Special Report from Center for Preventive Action

Afghanistan's Uncertain Transition from Turmoil to Normalcy

March 2006 , 56 Pages

Council Special Report
Concise policy briefs that provide timely responses to developing crises or contributions to current policy dilemmas.

Overview

Afghanistan’s Uncertain Transition argues that Afghanistan is still far from stability.

While the country has reestablished basic institutions of government, it has barely started to make them work. The government and its international supporters are challenged by a terrorist insurgency that has become more lethal and effective and that has bases in Pakistan, a drug trade that dominates the economy and corrupts the state, and pervasive poverty and insecurity. The Afghanistan Compact, approved in January 31, 2006, provides a road map for security, governance, and development over the next five years. The United States should take the lead in ensuring full funding and implementation of the Afghanistan Compact, and develop a coherent strategy toward the Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship. This strategy would entail pushing the Pakistani government to arrest Taliban leaders whose locations are provided by intelligence agencies and taking aggressive measures to close down the networks supporting suicide bombers.

More on:

Afghanistan

Democracy

Download the Spanish language version of this report [PDF], translated by the Real Instituto Elcano.

More on:

Afghanistan

Democracy

Reviews and Endorsements

Rubin, the best of a handful of American scholars on Afghanistan before September 11, still knows Afghanistan better than anyone else.

New York Review of Books

Rubin is perhaps the most authoritative scholar on Afghanistan in the United States. ... The fact that several of Rubin’s recommendations have already been implemented is a testament to his work. If followed, Barnett Rubin’s panoply of recommendations in such areas as security, governance, rule of law, economics and social development would go a long way.

Survival, journal of the International Institute for Strategic Studies

Top Stories on CFR

Russia

Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at CFR, and Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the future of U.S. policy toward Russia and the risks posed by heightened tensions between two nuclear powers. This episode is the first in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2024 presidential election and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Violence around U.S. elections in 2024 could not only destabilize American democracy but also embolden autocrats across the world. Jacob Ware recommends that political leaders take steps to shore up civic trust and remove the opportunity for violence ahead of the 2024 election season.

China

Those seeking to profit from fentanyl and governments seeking to control its supply are locked in a never-ending competition, with each new countermeasure spurring further innovation to circumvent it.