Afghanistan's Civil War

This is a report given by James Dobbins of the Rand Corporation to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on March 8. In the report, he explains why Afghanistan is experiencing civil war. To me, Afghanistan's internal conflict does not approach the threshold of civil war. Certainly there are elements that are fighting against the national government forces, but, again, I do not believe that is on the level of a civil war. He cites Iranian, Russian, and American aid to the Northern Alliance as the key factor that allowed the Alliance to eject the Taliban regime in 2001. However, immediately after the Taliban ouster, economic aid was slow and meager in arriving in Afghanistan. American aid is approximately $50 per year per capita for the average Afghan. Since the national government is unable to provide security or economic prosperity, Taliban recruitment efforts have been successful, especially in the eastern provinces where the population is heavily Pashtun. The Taliban were primarily of Pashtun ethnicity. The Rand Corporation