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Ausgabe 4-2010

Themenschwerpunkt:
Afghanistan – Die Internationale Gemeinschaft am Scheideweg?
Afghanistan – The International Community at the Cross roads?

INHALT

Editorial | download full article as pdf
Seite III

Themenschwerpunkt:
Afghanistan – Die Internationale Gemeinschaft am Scheideweg?
Afghanistan – The International Community at the Cross roads?

Dokumentation
Seite 257

Neuerscheinung
Seite 259

Annotationen | download full article as pdf
Seite 261

Besprechungen | download full article as pdf
Seite 263

ENGLISH ABSTRACTS

Aufstandsbekämpfung + Staatsaufbau = Stabilisierung? Lehren aus Afghanistan
Hans-Georg Ehrhart und Roland Kaestner
The confrontation with insurgencies is a conflict scenario that is becoming more important in the 21st century. The engagement in that kind of violent conflict is, as the case of Afghanistan demonstrates, very costly in terms of political and social repercussions, welfare and human lives. The international community’s reaction should be different to the one pursued in Afghanistan. It should be based on a more thorough situation analysis, the definition of more modest objectives, and a more cautious approach to military intervention. If a complex intervention including military means is deemed necessary, it should follow the logic of sustainable peace-building, i.e. the long-term development of the target country has to take priority over military, geostrategic, ideological or alliance-specific considerations.

With Enough Nails: Canadian Coin in Kandahar
Richard Roy
In 2009 Canada was in the midst of waging a counterinsurgency campaign in Kandahar province. That it was involved in a counterinsurgency was not clear from its initial deployment there in 2006. Since then Canada has made enormous strides in its capabilities to conduct these types of operations. It has improved in several key ways. This includes how it collects intelligence, how it trains the Afghan security forces, how it has re-focussed its efforts to better protect the population, and how it has improved unity of effort at the operational and strategic level. Canada has learned much about counterinsurgency and particularly the relevance of the comprehensive approach in these types of operation.

‚Counterinsurgency’ in der Bundeswehr: Konzeption, Interpretation und Praxis
Philipp Münch
This article explores the significance the concept of ‘counterinsurgency’ (COIN) has for the German Armed Forces. It starts with a discussion of the theoretical content of ‘COIN’. From this, the conclusion is drawn that ‘COIN’ is an only vaguely defined concept that allows practitioners to label a wide range of practices as such. The following part therefore explores how ‘COIN’ is understood by members of the German Armed Forces and how it is implemented in operations in Afghanistan. The article comes to the conclusion that ‘COIN’ is mainly used as a means to preserve the value of traditional military expertise and to legitimize the use of violence.

Peace-building and COIN in Afghanistan: The view of NGOs - What is really needed?
Citha D. Maass
To build peace in Afghanistan, the humanitarian needs of the local population must be identified and selectively satisfied. First and foremost, humanitarian agencies have to deliver basic needs such as water, food and shelter. Accomplishing this is usually a complex and highly difficult task. These difficulties involved are increased by so-called complex emergencies or postconflict or asymmetrical warfare, or insurgencies. This article aims to identify lessons learned on more effective peace-building in complex emergencies or COIN environments. As such, the dilemma between the need to establish a unified approach and the risk of blurring the lines between civilian and military actors, the search for civil-military guidelines, the various NGO approaches, and lessons learned will be analysed.

Non-Governmental Aid Organisations in Afghanistan Between Impartiality and Counterinsurgency
Robert Lindner
In a complex emergency as in Afghanistan, most non-governmental aid organisations interact with military actors on the basis of a clearly defined set of principles and rules. Independence, impartiality and acceptance are the prerequisite for them to gain safe access to people in need. However, as ISAF troops are using aid as a tactical means within a military-led counterinsurgency strategy, NGOs and their beneficiaries increasingly get targeted by insurgents. Militarised aid is also not effective to promote security. Without addressing the root causes of conflict, without bringing justice to the victims of violence and without maintaining human rights, any efforts towards peace and reintegration will be pointless.

Towards a comprehensive approach? The EU’s contribution to Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Afghanistan
Eva Gross
This article analyzes the EU’s contribution to Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Afghanistan. It places EU efforts, particularly those aimed at reforming the Afghan National Police (ANP), in the context of the broader international engagement in Afghanistan and the pursuit of a comprehensive approach that aligns civilian and military efforts. It argues that establishing a working division of labor and coordination between the NATO training mission NTM-A and EUPOL Afghanistan presents a significant challenge. The institutional actors engaged in reforming Afghanistan’s security sector have not yet succeeded in building a comprehensive approach in Afghanistan’s reconstruction.

Diagnosing the Failings of Security Sector Reform in Afghanistan
Mark Sedra
Security sector reform (SSR) is often described as the lynchpin of the Afghan state building project and the exit strategy of the NATO military mission. Yet despite the investment of billions of dollars into this comprehensive process that aims to transform the security and justice architecture of the country, its achievements have been limited. This can be attributed generally to the unsuitability of the SSR model to succeed in conflict-affected settings and more specifically to the failure of donors to adequately adapt SSR principles and best practices to the complexities of the Afghan context. In many ways, the Afghan case demonstrates the urgent need for reform of the SSR model itself, which has shown an inability in Afghanistan and beyond to translate its ambitious reform principles into tangible change on the ground.

Schlüssiges Konzept oder Schlagwort? Zu Anspruch und Praxis „Vernetzter Sicherheit“ in Afghanistan
Sven Bernhard Gareis
Following its “networked security” approach Germany intensifies its military and civilian efforts in Afghanistan to prepare the ground for a handover of responsibility to Afghan authorities as a precondition for a successive withdrawal of the German armed forces contingent starting in 2011. Recent experience, however, reveals conceptual deficits and administrative hurdles in combination with a strong reliance on the military. This prohibits “networked security” from developing into a comprehensive framework for the coordination of a variety of actors and capabilities needed in Afghanistan. Hence, structural changes in concept and practice of “networked security” are needed to enhance the civilian dimension in the Afghan build-up and development process.

Pakistan’s Foreign Policy between India and Afghanistan
Christian Wagner
In the 1990s the Pakistani military has linked relations towards Afghanistan with the conflict with India over Kashmir. Afghanistan is perceived under the lens of strategic depth in order to prevent an encirclement by India. The strategy had been successful in the 1990s but has backfired after 9/11. The attacks of Taliban groups pose a growing threat to state and society in Pakistan. But Pakistan’s foreign and security policy is still dominated by the military whereas the civilian government is not in a position to reformulate the foreign policy towards the neighbours that would favour closer economic cooperation.

Pakistan’s Afghanistan Policy, Blockades, and Strategic Trade
Julian Schofield
NATO’s long-term goal of the socio-economic development of Afghanistan sufficient for it to sustain a national army is imperiled by the conditions of impediments to trade imposed on it by Pakistan. Specifically, since partition of the subcontinent in 1947, disputes over the status of the Pashtun population in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) have led Pakistan to inhibit Indo-Afghan trade, the historical route for Afghan goods. While Pakistan has made concessions in permitting transshipped Afghan exports to India, it has left in place serious impediments to Indian exports to Afghanistan.