AFGHANISTAN: PARALLELS AND ANTI-PARALLELS

PRINCE EL HASSAN BIN TALAL
HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is the President of the Club of Rome and the Chairman of the Arab Thought Forum.

INTRODUCTION
On 19 September last year, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published a report on Central Asia and Afghanistan which emphasised that the region had been a continuing source of concern for some time before the 11 September attacks. The following overview of the humanitarian issues in Afghanistan today is prompted partly by my own membership of the ICG, but chiefly by my concerns for regional development and co-operation within the ‘arc of crisis' and for the implementation of international humanitarian norms and codes of conduct.1

IRAN AND AFGHANISTAN

KEMAL HARRAZI
HE Kemal Harrazi is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran Islamic Republic.

AN OVERVIEW OF POWER STRUCTURE IN AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan separated from Iran in 1747. Ahmad Khan, an Abdali chief who gained a high post in Nadir Shah's army established the first central government in the country. Over the past 250 years, the Pashtuns have dominated Afghan governments, with the exception of a nine-month reign of Habibullah Khan in 1929 and the short-lived government of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The monopoly of power in Afghanistan has always been a major source of internal strife among the various Pashtun tribes, in some cases leading to major conflicts for control of the political mainstream.

POST-TALIBAN AFGHANISTAN AND REGIONAL CO-OPERATION IN CENTRAL ASIA

PETER TOMSEN
Peter Tomsen was US Special Envoy and Ambassador to Afghanistan, 1989-92. He is currently US Ambassador in Residence, University of Nebraska at Omaha.

A fresh geopolitical configuration in and around Afghanistan is emerging from the destruction of the Pakistan-supported Taliban-al-Qaeda regime. The remainder of this decade could witness the regional powers shift away from competition with each other for domination of Afghanistan. Conversely, a new innings of the centuries old ‘Great Game' might unfold, repeating the all too familiar scenario of war, terrorism, drug trafficking, refugee outflows and instability in Afghanistan.

CERTAIN ASPECTS OF THE AFGHAN SETTLEMENT: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AFGHANISTAN INTO A SEAT OF INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

MARIANNA ARUNOVA
Marianna Arunova is a Doctor of Political Sciences and a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Moscow.

The long-drawn-out domestic conflict in Afghanistan has been remarkable for the existence over many years of wide regional and international aspects. The Afghan crisis has become an integral part of the global arch of instability from Kosovo and Macedonia through the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central, Southwest and South Asia up to The Philippines.

POST-WAR AFGHANISTAN: REBUILDING A RAVAGED NATION

ISHTIAQ AHMAD
Ishtiaq Ahmad is Assistant Professor of International Relations at Eastern Mediterranean University in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The post-11 September US-led war against the sources of Islamic extremism and international terrorism inside Afghanistan has been largely a success. It may be only a matter of time before the remaining Taliban and al-Qaeda pockets of resistance in eastern Afghanistan vanish. The refugees are returning home and the UN-supervised peace package is being implemented successfully. By Afghan standards, these are gigantic achievements in such a short span of time.

THE AFGHANISTAN CONFLICT, INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND THE US RESPONSE*

AMIN SAIKAL
Amin Saikal is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia) at the Australian National University.

* Opinions expressed in this paper are author's personal views only.

The crisis of international terrorism emanating from Afghanistan might have been avoided had Washington heeded the now-slain leader of the Afghan anti-Taliban forces, the legendary commander Ahmad Shah Masood, who repeatedly warned that a dangerous triangular alliance between the Taliban, Osama bin Laden and Pakistan  

THE AFGHAN AFTERMATH IN THE MIDDLE EAST

MICHAEL RUBIN
Michael Rubin is an adjunct scholar of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is currently resident at Hebrew University's Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations. He has travelled extensively in Iran, northern Iraq and Afghanistan.

On 7 October, the United States began military operations against the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan and the Taliban regime that had given them shelter. The impact of the US operation upon the Taliban could not be clearer. Just two months after the commencement of bombing, Northern Alliance forces entered the radical Islamist movement's spiritual capital of Kandahar, effectively ending the Taliban's seven-year rule in Afghanistan.

UNDERSTANDING INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AFTER THE 11 SEPTEMBER TERRORIST ATTACKS: A NOTE ON THE NEW SECURITY PARADIGM

KOSTAS IFANTIS
Kostas Ifantis is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Athens and a Research Fellow at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens.

INTRODUCTION
This article is about how the terrorist attacks of the 11 September 2001 against the US have produced (or reproduced) and reinforced political outcomes related to security and defence designs in post-Cold War international politics. It should be emphasised, however, that our traditional conception of the classic factors of power in analysing and explaining the changing security environment is still relevant.

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