Closing Argument: Neighbourhood Watch

An article by Teresita C. Schaffer on the relationship between Afghanistan and its neighbors.

The debate over the end game in Afghanistan heated up after US president Barack Obama’s December 2009 West Point speech and the London Conference in late January 2010. Two out of four major potential elements of a strategy are getting headlines: the military approach to counter-insurgency and the ‘civilian surge’, including both economic aid and support for better governance. A third, the issue of whether, and under what circumstances, to reintegrate or include current Taliban personalities in the final government, is highly controversial. But policymakers in the United States and other NATO countries need to start paying more attention to the fourth: the relationship between Afghanistan and its neighbours, which could undo whatever gains Afghanistan achieves internally. Addressing the neighbourhood needs more than a handy formula; it will require continuing and sustained diplomatic effort.

Originally published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies in the June-July 2010 issue of Survival. Read the entire article.

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