Afghanistan at transition : lessons of the longest war / Anthony H. Cordesman with Aaron Lin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cordesman, Anthony H., author.

Lin, Aaron, author.

Series:

CSIS Reports

CSIS Reports.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Afghan War, 2001-2021--Peace.

Afghan War, 2001-2021.

Afghanistan--Politics and government--2001-2021.

Afghanistan.

Afghanistan. National Security Forces.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 pages)

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Maryland : Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

<span><span>Anthony H. Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at CSIS.</span></span>

Contents:

Afghanistan At Transition ; Table of Contents; EXECUTIVE SUMMARY; I. THE STRATEGIC VACUUM IN AFGHANISTAN, CENTRAL AND SOUTH ASIA; US STRATEGY WRITES OFF AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN, AND THE REGION; A QDR That Largely Wrote Off the Region; President Obama's Statement on Afghanistan on May 27, 2014; President Obama's New Strategy Speech at West Point; NO CLEARER LEAD FROM NATO; A CIVIL FAILURE BY USAID, THE UN AND OTHER DONORS; No Real Future Aid Plans or Afghan Deliverables on Reform; The London Conference in December 2014; The Death of the Tokyo Conference Deliverables; President Ghani on Reform

II. UNCERTAIN PRIORITIES FOR US STRATEGYUS "STRATEGIC TRIAGE" IS CRITICAL; THE ISSUE IS NOT RESOURCES, BUT STRATEGIC PRIORITY; THE COST-BENEFITS OF UPPING THE ANTE; III. THE "THREAT" FROM AFGHAN POLITICS, LEADERSHIP, GOVERNANCE, AND PROSPECTS FOR STABILITY; THE SHELL OF DEMOCRACY: THE REALITY OF THE PRESIDENCY, POWER BROKERS, PARALLEL DONOR COUNTRY GOVERNANCE; The Reality of National Versus Local Governance; Parallel Governance by ISAF Regional Commands and National Air Donors; The US Role in Weak and Failed Afghan Governance; A DIVIDED, POOR, AND STRUGGLING NATION

FAILED AND CORRUPT 2014 ELECTIONS THAT DID MORE TO DIVIDE THAN UNITEAN AWKWARD AND UNCERTAIN COMPROMISE; A Deeply Uncertain Compromise at the Top; Limited Progress in Signing a Bilateral Security Agreement; UNCERTAIN AFGHAN LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE: TWO YEARS TOO LATE?; THE HERITAGE OF FAILED GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION; Corruption and Incompetence; Keeping Corruption in Perspective; THE BUDGET CRISIS IN REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES; The Failure to Win US and Other Outside Domestic Political Support; The Combined Threat from Host Country Politics, Governance, and Budgeting

IV. THE ANSF AND THE THREAT FROM AN INTENSIFYING CONFLICTThe President's "Sell by Date": Slashing Advisors and Support Regardless of Conditions in Afghanistan; The Impact of a Late and Erratic Effort to Create Effective Afghan Forces; The US as a Self-Inflicted Threat; A Brief and Largely Ineffective US Surge; Host Country "Threat"; Rushing Force Development beyond Afghan and ISAF Capacity; The Uncertain Threat; The Uncertain Integrity of ISAF and Department of Defense Reporting on the Growing Security Challenges at the Time of Transition

The Warnings in UN and SIGAR Casualty Data and Other ReportingThe Final UN Report on Casualties through the End of 2014 Calls ISAF and Department of Defense Reporting into Even More Serious Question; Estimating the Growth of Taliban and Other Insurgent Influence and Control; Mixed Data on Popular Support for the ANSF; V. PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE ANSF; THE QUESTION OF SIZE AND COST; UNCERTAIN PROGRESS IN THE ANSF; Grossly Over-classifying Data on Afghan Combat and Police Forces for Political Ends; Issuing Meaningless Metrics on ANSF Capability

AN UNREADY AND CORRUPT MINISTRY OF DEFENSE AND MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

Notes:

"A Report of the CSIS Burke Chair in Strategy."

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed April 23, 2015).

Other Format:

Print version: Cordesman, Anthony H. Afghanistan at transition : lessons of the longest war.