Publication

This brief is based on six months of field research conducted by the author in Afghanistan for a forthcoming USIP report on the drivers of the insurgency and the risks, feasibility and implications of negotiations. The intensification of the conflict in Afghanistan has been accompanied by increased consideration of the potential for “reconciliation” with insurgents. Some policymakers see this as inducing high-level insurgent defections (“reintegration plus”) and thus weakening and dividing the enemy, or as cutting deals with them to facilitate foreign forces’ departure (arguably, negotiations lite”).