Aug 24, 2015 The Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) in partnership with the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) conducted mixed-method, field-based research regarding alliance formation, structure, maintenance, and resilience among armed groups as well as alliances between political groups in the five Afghan provinces of Kabul, Herat, Helmand, Kunduz and Nangarhar. The
Feb 22, 2015 By: Hekmatullah Azamy, Research Analyst Led by the Afghan Taliban, militancy in Afghanistan has grown in strength and claimed increasing casualties to combatants and civilians during last 13 years. Both Afghanistan and the International Community accused Pakistan of patronizing the Afghan Taliban and help them sustain militancy in the face of growing
Oct 23, 2014 By: Hekmatullah Azamy, Research Analyst Afghanistan, India and Pakistan have a history of hostility that threatened regional security and hindered economic integration in the region. The hostility is chiefly due to territorial disputes – a carryover from the colonial British era. These disputes not only led to inter-state wars but also use
Oct 23, 2014 By: Sayed Mujtaba Hashimy Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is one of the few foreign militant groups operating in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. The group is associated with al-Qaeda, and the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban. IMU is known as a disciplined organization with die-hard and experienced cadre. Its origin goes back to the
Oct 23, 2014By: Mr. Halimullah Kousary, Deputy Head of Research Over 60 years after the fall of the Ottoman Empire and subsequent intensification of nationalism in the Muslim world, Islamists have tried three distinct campaigns to gain power and establish Islamic states in the Muslim world. First was jihad in 1979 against the Soviet Union
Sep 30, 2014 By: Mr. Halimullah Kousary, Deputy Head of Research The aftermath of the Afghan 2014 presidential election confirms two problems of Afghanistan today. Firstly, after 13 years of relative progress and development in certain areas, Afghanistan is still a politically fragile country with serious political divisions among the Afghan powerbrokers and it thus
Jul 07, 2014 By: Hekmatullah Azamy, Research Analyst Government of Pakistan, on 15 June 2014, launched operation ‘Zarb-e-Azb’ in North Waziristan Agency (NWA) - a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban and a safe haven for the Haqqani Network and other foreign militants since 2001. Afghanistan hailed the operation and in the meantime stressed that any
Oct 01, 2013 By Mayank Bubna, Research Fellow Election coverage for Afghanistan’s presidential post has long been anticipatory in nature – trying to predict what will happen the week of elections. Monitoring of the elections by various international parties is widespread, traditionally focusing on issues such as stuffing of ballot boxes, manipulation of voter registration
Oct 01, 2013By Hekmatullah Azamy, Research Analyst The last 12 years of fighting has taught all players involved in the Afghan conflict to end the ruthless battle through peace talks. In other words, all parties want peace more than ever before, even if faced with great challenges. This piece studies the background of peace initiatives
May 26, 2013 By Hekmat K. Karzai, Director The phrase intercultural dialogue is a relatively new phrase in the English lexicon that is widely used by politicians, development workers, and sociologists. The phrase itself, however, is complicated because there is no single, widely recognized definition of the term and for the most part, intercultural dialogue