The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution
This book is the first full length political history of the Afghan Army, and as such is unparalleled in the range and depth of its analysis of this vitally important institution. Giustozzi locates the Army's development within the wider context of state-building in Afghanistan. His volume includes a brief survey of the period to 1953, but focuses mainly on subsequent developments, over the last four decades, as the officer corps began to be politicised and later factionalised, especially during the Russian-backed regime of the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which ruled the country from 1978 to 1992. Despite the stress on the politics of praetorianism, the volume describes the Afghan Army's performance on the battlefield in detail, highlighting the potential contradiction between military effectiveness and political loyalty to the ruling elite. The volume covers developments to the end of 2013 and is the result of extensive interviews conducted with both Afghan Army officers and their advisers and mentors.
1120676578
The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution
This book is the first full length political history of the Afghan Army, and as such is unparalleled in the range and depth of its analysis of this vitally important institution. Giustozzi locates the Army's development within the wider context of state-building in Afghanistan. His volume includes a brief survey of the period to 1953, but focuses mainly on subsequent developments, over the last four decades, as the officer corps began to be politicised and later factionalised, especially during the Russian-backed regime of the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which ruled the country from 1978 to 1992. Despite the stress on the politics of praetorianism, the volume describes the Afghan Army's performance on the battlefield in detail, highlighting the potential contradiction between military effectiveness and political loyalty to the ruling elite. The volume covers developments to the end of 2013 and is the result of extensive interviews conducted with both Afghan Army officers and their advisers and mentors.
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The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution

The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution

by Antonio Giustozzi
The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution

The Army of Afghanistan: A Political History of a Fragile Institution

by Antonio Giustozzi

Overview

This book is the first full length political history of the Afghan Army, and as such is unparalleled in the range and depth of its analysis of this vitally important institution. Giustozzi locates the Army's development within the wider context of state-building in Afghanistan. His volume includes a brief survey of the period to 1953, but focuses mainly on subsequent developments, over the last four decades, as the officer corps began to be politicised and later factionalised, especially during the Russian-backed regime of the Communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), which ruled the country from 1978 to 1992. Despite the stress on the politics of praetorianism, the volume describes the Afghan Army's performance on the battlefield in detail, highlighting the potential contradiction between military effectiveness and political loyalty to the ruling elite. The volume covers developments to the end of 2013 and is the result of extensive interviews conducted with both Afghan Army officers and their advisers and mentors.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781849044813
Publisher: Hurst
Publication date: 02/15/2016
Pages: 288
Product dimensions: 8.50(w) x 5.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Antonio Giustozzi is a Research Fellow at IDEAS, London School of Economics. He is the author of Koran, Kalashnikov, and Laptop: The Neo-Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan 2002-2007, Decoding the New Taliban, and Empires of Mud: Wars and Warlords in Afghanistan, all available from OUP.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Glossary ix

1 Introduction 1

2 Under the monarchy and the first republic 5

A short history of Afghan army development 1880-1953 5

Modernization under the monarchy 12

Modernization under Daud's presidency, 1973-8 18

3 The Afghan army under the second (leftist) republic 27

Army and politics 27

Army and society 51

Fighting power 61

The impact of Soviet assistance 104

Might is not enough 111

4 The army under the third (Islamist) republic and under the Emirate 113

The army and the mujahidin 113

The Taliban's army 1996-2001 116

5 The ANA under the 'fourth republic' 123

Towards the re-monopolisation of violence? 123

Army and politics 131

The numbers game 147

Causes of low quality in recruitment and high attrition 159

Administration and logistics 162

The chain of command 170

Professionalism 173

The ANA on the battlefield 179

Dependency on external support 209

6 Conclusion 227

Notes 235

References 285

Index 299

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