No. 178: Afghanistan: Back to the Brink

Author(s): Prem Mahadevan
Editor(s): Matthias Bieri
Series: CSS Analyses in Security Policy
Issue: 178
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich
Publication Year: 2015

The year 2015 has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the beginning of the US-led war in 2001. Fourteen years of combat have not made either the country or the West safer, although the global terrorist network known as al-Qaida has been weakened. This undeniable success, however, might amount to a Pyrrhic victory if the so-called 'Islamic State' moves in as the West withdraws.

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Graphics:

Casualties of the War in Afghanistan

Opium Cultivation and Jihadist Presence in Afghanistan