Warlords, the United States, and the state of anarchy in Afghanistan

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216224%3A14230%2F21%3A00121888" target="_blank" >RIV/00216224:14230/21:00121888 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://www.cejop.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021_Vol-07_No-01_Art-03_Warlords_full.pdf" target="_blank" >http://www.cejop.cz/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021_Vol-07_No-01_Art-03_Warlords_full.pdf</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.24132/cejop_2021_1" target="_blank" >10.24132/cejop_2021_1</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Warlords, the United States, and the state of anarchy in Afghanistan

Original language description

As part of its “War on Terror”, the United States (US) provided immense sums of money and advanced equipment to Afghan warlords in order to defeat and dismantle the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Nearly two decades after the 2001 US-led intervention in Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime, the US continues supporting the warlords in various ways. As the intervention was also aimed at establishing a functioning state and reconstruction of the war-torn country, the US needed the support of local warlords to achieve its goals. However, over time, warlords and warlordism became a major challenge to the post-Taliban state-building project and in many ways undermined the overall security and the state monopoly on violence. These warlords, who had been mostly expelled and defeated by the Taliban regime, returned under the aegis of the B52 bombers, recaptured parts of the country and reestablished their fiefdoms with US support and resources. They not only resist giving up the power and prestige they have accumulated over the past few years, but also hamper the effort to improve governance and enact necessary reforms in the country. In addition, many of them run their private militias and have been accused of serious human rights abuses as well as drug trafficking, arms smuggling, illegal mining and extortion in the areas under their control or influence. In many ways, they challenge the government authority and have become a major hurdle to the country’s emerging from lawlessness and anarchy. This paper explores the emergence and re-emergence of warlords in Afghanistan as well as the evolution of chaos and anarchy in the country, especially after the US-led intervention of late 2001. It also analyzes the impact of the post-9/11 US support to Afghan warlords and its negative consequences for the overall stability and the US-led state-building process in Afghanistan.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_ost - Miscellaneous article in a specialist periodical

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50601 - Political science

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2021

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Central European Journal of Politics

ISSN

2464-479X

e-ISSN

2464-479X

Volume of the periodical

7

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC

Number of pages

30

Pages from-to

46-75

UT code for WoS article

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EID of the result in the Scopus database

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