Afghanistan: 5 areas of concern after the US leaves

The withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan will have profound, direct effects on the country's security, economy, and society.  Here are five areas that are likely to see an impact.

Regional stability

The US withdrawal will also leave a geopolitical vacuum that will affect Afghanistan's neighbors Pakistan and Iran

Pakistan is worried about the potential destabilization of Afghanistan that could follow the US withdrawal, writes Foreign Policy's Shuja Nawaz. Possible results include "millions of new refugees if fighting breaks out in Afghanistan, and the scary prospect for Pakistan of reverse sanctuary for Pakistani Taliban and other anti-state actors." The latter would be the inverse of the problem that US and NATO forces are dealing with now: Afghan militants can hide on the other side of the Pakistani border, where Western forces cannot pursue them. But Pakistan has its own problem with militants, who could seek refuge in Afghanistan when the US and NATO leave.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a bipartisan think tank, writes that so far Tehran has been exerting a net positive influence in western Afghanistan by helping to stabilize the region and protect Afghan Shiites (though still supporting occasional attacks on US interests in the country).  But when the US leaves, CSIS argues that Iran will look to expand its role in the region, which could worsen the already contentious relationship between US and Iran. 

CSIS also notes that Iran has been seeking warmer relations with Pakistan so they can cooperate to prevent Afghan instability. But multiple obstacles, including the Sunni-Shiite divide and divergent security interests, could keep Iranian-Pakistani relations from developing.

4 of 5

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.