Video: The Zone of Turbulence: Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a classic instance of the political and military mess that empires leave behind.
Speech delivered at the International Conference on the Global Crisis and Hegemonic Dilemmas (New Delhi, Nov.8-10). [Speech by Bidwai starts in minute 34.]
Washington has commited to withdrawing from Afghanistan in July 2012, and leave everything to the Afghans by 2014. But whatever way one looks into it, Afghanistan is going to be a complete chaos. The only possible way out, argues Praful Bidwai, is taking a regional approach, with all countries in the region and Afghan civil society make a common effort to stabilise the country.
|
|
About the authors
Praful Bidwai
Praful Bidwai is a political columnist, social science researcher, and activist on issues of human rights, the environment, global justice and peace. He currently holds the Durgabai Deshmukh Chair in Social Development, Equity and Human Security at the Council for Social Development, Delhi, affiliated to the Indian Council for Social Science Research.
A former Senior Editor of The Times of India, Bidwai is one of South Asia’s most widely published columnists, whose articles appear in more than 25 newspapers and magazines. He is also frequently published by The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique and Il Manifesto.
Bidwai is a founder-member of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace (India). He received the Sean MacBride International Peace Prize, 2000 of the International Peace Bureau, Geneva & London.
He was a Senior Fellow, Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi. Bidwai is the co-author, with Achin Vanaik, of South Asia on a Short Fuse: Nuclear Politics and the Future of Global Disarmament, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, a radical critique of the nuclearisation of India and Pakistan and of reliance on nuclear weapons for security.
Recent publications from Peace & Security
How international rules on countering the financing of terrorism impact civil societyMaking banks and non-profits liable for the acts and social networks of their customers and beneficiaries while holding charities and CSOs responsible for the ‘extremist’ views and actions of their associates stifles freedom of association and expression and promotes self-censorship. |
Guns, debt and corruptionHigh levels of military spending played a key role in the unfolding economic crisis in Europe and continues to undermine efforts to resolve it. |
Secrets, Lies, & PropagandaAfter the US embrace of torture after 9/11 it was only a matter of time before Hollywood decided to make a tribute to America’s liberal culture of torture for the big screen; Zero Dark Thirty |
The Other BurmaNortheast India's strategic location between India, China and southeast Asia has led to a recent boom in resource extraction and investment by multinational corporations, but the world continues to remain largely silent on the human rights abuses that continue to be perpetrated by the Indian military. |
Tags
Upcoming events
