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Preventing New Afghanistans: A Regional Strategy for Reconstruction

Unless the international community pursues a regional strategy for rebuilding Afghanistan, the security of the Central Asian states and Pakistan will be so compromised that new terrorist groups with global reach soon will be using Eurasia as their launching pad again.

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By Martha Brill Olcott
Published on Dec 20, 2001
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Russia and Eurasia

The Russia and Eurasia Program continues Carnegie’s long tradition of independent research on major political, societal, and security trends in and U.S. policy toward a region that has been upended by Russia’s war against Ukraine.  Leaders regularly turn to our work for clear-eyed, relevant analyses on the region to inform their policy decisions.

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Unless the international community pursues a regional strategy for rebuilding Afghanistan, the security of the Central Asian states and Pakistan will be so compromised that new terrorist groups with global reach soon will be using Eurasia as their launching pad again.

Arms, drugs, and seditious ideas from Afghanistan have severely undermined the region. To achieve stability, the antiterrorist coalition must disarm Afghan factions, impose an arms embargo, and destroy the country's poppy crop and its opium and heroin factories. Otherwise, militant Islamic groups across the region will use Afghanistan's drugs to finance their operations and its weapons to fight their wars.

Economic recovery is the essential antidote to radicalism. Macroeconomic reform in Uzbekistan is the key. Its instability would rock its neighbors, while success could spark the creation of free markets across the entire region.
 

Click on the link above for full text of this Policy Brief.

About the Author

Martha Brill Olcott

Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia

Olcott is professor emerita at Colgate University, having taught political science there from 1974 to 2002. Prior to her work at the endowment, Olcott served as a special consultant to former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger.

    Recent Work

  • In The Media
    After Crimea: Will Kazakhstan be Next in Putin’s Reintegration Project?

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  • Article
    China’s Unmatched Influence in Central Asia

      Martha Brill Olcott

Martha Brill Olcott
Former Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program and, Co-director, al-Farabi Carnegie Program on Central Asia
Martha Brill Olcott
Political ReformTradeSecurityAfghanistanCentral AsiaKazakhstan

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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