Getting It Right in Afghanistan

As the United States and NATO prepare to withdraw their troops from Afghanistan in 2014, the question remains as to what sort of political settlement the Afghanistan government and the Taliban can reach in order to achieve sustainable peace. If all parties are willing to strike a deal, how might the negotiations be structured, and what might the shape of that deal be? "Getting It Right in Afghanistan" addresses the real drivers of the insurgency and how Afghanistan's neighbors can contribute to peace in the region.A recurring theme throughout the volume is the complex, multiactor conflict environment in Afghanistan and the resulting need for more inclusive political arrangements. The first set of chapters focus on internal political dynamics and Afghan political actors' views on a peace process. The second section covers Afghanistan's neighbors and their role in shaping the country's internal politics. Efforts to date to implement a peace and reconciliation process for Afghanistan are covered in the final section. Taken together, the book conveys the complexity and challenge of building an enduring and stable political consensus in Afghanistan's fragmented environment.Since beginning work in Afghanistan in 2002, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) has been informing policy through accurate, clear analysis of the conflict that could shape a negotiated settlement. Comprising a collection of its analysis from 2002 to the present, "Getting It Right in Afghanistan" offers valuable insights to the policymakers charged with developing a new course of action for contributing to peace in Afghanistan and regional stability.

About the Author :
Scott Smith is the deputy director for USIP's Afghanistan program. Formerly at the United Nations, he is the author of Afghanistan's Troubled Transition: Politics, Peacekeeping and the 2004 Presidential Election. Moeed Yusuf serves as the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan in the capacity of an Assistant to the Prime Minister of Pakistan on National Security Division and Strategic Policy Planning. He previously served as the director of South Asia programs at USIP. He has taught at Boston University and Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan and has previously been affiliated with the Brookings Institution and the Harvard Kennedy School. Colin Cookman is a program officer with the U.S. Institute of Peace's Center for South and Central Asia, working to help support, manage and coordinate research publications across the program's region of focus. He joined the staff in June 2014, after previously working on a part-time basis to support USIP research on Pakistan beginning in February 2013. Colin has previously worked as a contributing writer for the Economist Intelligence Unit's political risk and macroeconomic analyses of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and was a member of Democracy International's election observation mission during the 2010 Afghan parliamentary elections. From 2008 through 2013, Colin worked as an analyst with the Center for American Progress' national security and international policy team, focusing on the internal political and conflict dynamics of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and American policy towards the region. Colin received his graduate degree from John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in 2014, with a concentration in South Asia studies and International Economics, and his undergraduate degree in International Relations from Boston University in 2005.