Setting the scene for Afghanistan's reconstruction: the challenges and critical dilemmas / Sultan Barakat. Theories, rhetoric and practice: recovering the capacities of war-torn societies / Sultan Barakat & Margaret Chard. Aiding violence or building peace? The role of international aid in Afghanistan / Jonathan Goodhand. Afghans have their memories: a reflection on the recent experience of assistance in Afghanistan / Chris Johnson & Jolyon Leslie. After Bonn: conflictual peace building / Astri Suhrke, Kristian Berg Harpviken & Arne Strand. The road ahead: political and institutional reconstruction in Afghanistan / Alexander Thier & Jarat Chopra. Exploited by whom? An alternative perspective on humanitarian assistance to Afghans women / Sultan Barakat & Gareth Wardell. Breaking new ground: Afghanistan's response to landmines and unexploded ordnance / Kristian Berg Harpviken. Formal and informal disability resources for Afghans reconstruction / M. Miles. Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of former combatants in Afghanistan: lessons learned from a cross-cultural perspective / Alpaslan Özerden. Cultural heritage and national identity in Afghanistan / Nancy Hatch Dupree. The composite approach: research design in the context of war and armed conflict / Sultan Barakat, Margaret Chard, Tim Jacoby & William Lume.

This publication is the second in a series of lessons learned reports which examine how the U.S. government and Departments of Defense, State, and Justice carried out reconstruction programs in Afghanistan. In particular, the report analyzes security sector assistance (SSA) programs to create, train and advise the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) between 2002 and 2016. This publication concludes that the effort to train the ANDSF needs to continue, and provides recommendations for the SSA programs to be improved, based on lessons learned from careful analysis of real reconstruction situations in Afghanistan. The publication states that the United States was never prepared to help create Afghan police and military forces capable of protecting that country from internal and external threats. It is the hope of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, that this publication, and other SIGAR reports will create a body of work that can help provide reasonable solutions to help United States agencies and military forces improve reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Related items: Counterterrorism publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/counterterrorism Counterinsurgency publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/counterinsurgency Warfare & Military Strategy publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/warfare-military-strategy Afghanistan War publications can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/afghanistan-war

Reintegration of Ex-Combatants: Lessons from the U.S. Experience in Afghanistan is the seventh lessons learned report to be issued by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. This report examines the five main post-2001 reintegration efforts in Afghanistan and assesses their effectiveness. Further, it examines several past local security agreements and whether they provided an opening for reintegration. The report also examines opportunities and constraints for reintegration efforts now and in the future, includes case studies of reintegration in Colombia and Somalia, and reviews the broader literature.The report identifies lessons to inform U.S. policies and actions regarding the reintegration of ex-combatants. These lessons are relevant for Afghanistan, where the United States will likely remain engaged in the coming years, and for reintegration efforts in other conflict-affected countries. The report also provides recommendations to the Congress and executive branch agencies for improving such efforts, as well as matters for consideration for the Afghan government.Our findings highlight the difficulty of reintegrating ex-combatants during an active insurgency in a fragile state. In Afghanistan, we found that the absence of a comprehensive political settlement or peace agreement was a key factor in the failure of prior reintegration programs targeting Taliban fighters. Other important factors were insecurity and threats facing program participants, a weak economy offering few legal economic opportunities, and limited government capacity to implement a program. None of the reintegration programs succeeded in enabling any significant number of ex-combatants to socially and economically rejoin civil society. Programs specifically targeting Taliban insurgents did not weaken the insurgency to any substantial degree or contribute meaningfully to parallel reconciliation efforts.The United States and the Taliban have been engaged in talks to reach an agreement that could allow for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops. Such a deal may set the stage for a viable intra-Afghan peace process, and possibly an Afghan political settlement to end decades of war. If peace efforts succeed, a critical challenge will be the reintegration of tens of thousands of former fighters into Afghan society. U.S. policymakers must consider under what conditions the United States should support reintegration efforts, and if so, determine the best approach. U.S. agencies would also need to take into account several risks to the execution of a reintegration program, including corruption, the difficulty of monitoring and evaluation, vetting challenges, and security issues. As this report lays out, these problems have plagued Afghan reintegration efforts since 2001.

The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were packaged as democracy promotion, as heralding the beginning of a new phase in the politics of the Middle East when democracy would replace authoritarian regimes. Many of these authoritarian regimes, however, were sustained by US support.

Presents a thematically indexed bibliography devoted to Afghanistan. Following the pattern established by one of its major data sources, viz, the acclaimed Index Islamicus, both journal articles and book publications are included and indexed.

Disasters threaten all parts of the world and they appear to be increasing in frequency, scale and intensity. Despite huge improvements in the emergency response, permanent reconstruction is often uncoordinated, inefficiently managed and slow to begin. International agencies are geared to an efficient response in terms of humanitarian relief, but they are not well versed in the requirements of long-term reconstruction, which is often constrained by lack of planning and poorly coordinated management. The construction industry is typically engaged in a range of critical activities after a disaster, including provision of temporary shelter in the immediate aftermath and restoration of permanent shelter and public infrastructure once the immediate humanitarian needs have been attended to. Post-Disaster Reconstruction of the Built Environment identifies the challenges that face the industry and highlights best practice to enable the construction industry to address those problems which make an effective response to these unexpected events difficult. Written by an international team of experts, this book will help researchers and advanced students of construction understand the problems faced by communities and the construction industry when faced with a natural or man-made disaster, and identify the planning and management processes required by the industry to mount an effective response.