Afghanistan

Alex Thier, director of Afghanistan and Pakistan programs, testified on November 19, 2009 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on how to move forward in Afghanistan and work with President Karzai.

This USIPeace Briefing discusses the enormous problem of civilian casualties in Afghanistan; the “troops-in-contact” dilemma regarding air power; challenges in intelligence gathering; losses in the information war with Taliban forces; and policy recommendations to mitigate this trend.

At dawn on October 30, 2006, two missile strikes rocked the Zia-ul-Uloom madrassah in Chinagai, a border village in the Bajour province of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). This incident, and its aftermath, raises broader questions regarding the stability of the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The Institute focuses on various dimensions of peacebuilding and conflict management, including the causal relationship between economic activity and the prospects for enduring peace.

Lack of justice and a culture of impunity have emerged as major grievances in Afghanistan, alienating the population from the government and creating an enabling environment for the insurgency.  Please join us for a discussion of informal and formal justice systems, and an overview of USIP’s justice projects that aim to strengthen linkages between these two sectors and address impunity.

Promoting non-violent resolution of conflict at all local levels will be essential to bringing, and sustaining, peace and stability to Afghanistan.  In Afghanistan's recent history, the most effective agents in advancing peace and security at the local level have been indigenous structures such as shura and jirga councils, as well as Maliks.

Peace doesn't automatically return when the guns stop firing or an agreement is signed. This team works to advise newly-forming governments and institutions, promote and maintain community reconciliation, and help different groups on the ground to coordinate their efforts to maintain security and provide services.