... and legal condemnation of mercenaries have been based can be raised for the use of PMSCs with equal validity. From this point of view, it would seem analytically distorting, for example, to think of a Colombian national working for an American PMSC in Afghanistan as anything other than a mercenary. This example is neither fictitious, nor rare. As of July 2013, 83% of the private military and security contractors working for the US Department of Defense in Iraq, and 10% in Afghanistan, are third-country ...
The changing strategic realities after the gradual international pullout from Afghanistan will require an entirely new set of approach for the sustainability of non-extremist governance and stability of social fabric. Amid, such an unpredictable future of war-game stage of Central and South Asia, Russia is one of potential players ...
..., and although its change in government may bring some hope and even progress in the coming months, the situation is likely to deteriorate over the next five years.
Pakistan is in the midst of several violent internal conflicts. Near the border with Afghanistan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, U.S. and Pakistani security forces are fighting the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other militant groups. In the southwest, in Balochistan province, Baloch nationalist-separatists ...
... “new era” was followed by another even deeper crisis.
But against this background of crisis, the exceptions to it acquired a particular importance. Russia and NATO continued practical cooperation in what they considered critical areas, such as Afghanistan. It became clear that even facing such a conflict situation, Russia and NATO could not afford to give up working together to meet common global challenges. Over the six years of cooperation, the NRC gained some internal momentum of its own....
... to their own judgment. From representing only 1% of the military personnel operating in various conflict zones in the early 1990’s, it was roughly believed that their number had increased to 1 out of 4 soldiers in 2011 in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The growth of the private military/security industry demonstrates a gradual diffusion of the control over the use of force to a diversity of non-state actors. This departure from state monopoly involves a multiplicity of implications, ranging ...
... Republic of India, the world’s second most populous country, is the core and central component of South Asia. To the north-east it borders Pakistan. Indian maps show Jammu and Kashmir marked as Indian territory and also its common border with Afghanistan. Along the Himalayas to the north-east its neighbors are the Peoples’ Republic of China (Xinjiang Uighur and Tibet autonomous regions), Nepal and Bhutan, with Bangladesh and Myanmar slightly further south, traditionally included in South-East ...
It may appear that Russia is equally dissatisfied with both Western security’s presence in and its departure from Afghanistan planned for 2014, but whether the Western withdrawal is seen as more of a gain a loss depends on how Moscow itself assesses and balances its own security concerns in the region: instability, extremism and narcotics.
At the same time the ...
... coalition forces of just
173,000
.
Photo: theatlantic.com
The trial of Saddam Hussein, October 19, 2006
«However, Washington has fully achieved its
declared goal of toppling the Saddam regime.»
The technological gap was not as wide as in Afghanistan, where NATO faced poorly-trained and scantily-equipped Taliban troops formed less than 10 years before. The Iraqi army had had large-scale war experience, appropriate financing and trained personnel, as well as almost 6,000 armored vehicles ...
Unintended consequences of Iraq and Afghanistan
As international worries deepen over developments in Syria and Mali, the West must be cautious about leading the pack when it comes to saying what should be done. Because the events now playing out in Syria and Mali are, in no small part,...
Leaving Plus Staying
President Obama's policy in Afghanistan seems consistent, but it is far from straightforward. The U.S. administration faces a conundrum: it is time to complete the Afghan antiterrorist operation, but peace is not within sight. But the president still has his second term to wind ...
