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The Geostrategic Nightmare of Afghanistan

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The Geostrategic Nightmare of Afghanistan
The Geostrategic Nightmare of Afghanistan A geostrategic outlook does not depend on one single topic or attribute of a country. It encompasses concepts from geography, politics, demography, and topography to characterize a region. When we look into the country of Afghanistan we look into the concepts of Afghanistan being land-locked, their vast mountainous region, their relatively large population of extremists as well as the country being over all less developed than many other nations in the world. Afghanistan 's overall geostrategic outlook is often changing due to the struggle for power and the changing government. The above four concepts play a large role into how the country operates and it 's overall well being. Afghanistan is an interesting candidate for this assessment due to the large influence the United States currently has there and the possibility of that changing in a short period of time due to military withdrawal. The development of Afghanistan is a rocky road filled with war and terror. In 1979 the Soviet Union attempted to invade and conquer Afghanistan. This pushed the country into a long period of turmoil and strife. Afghan fighters ultimately were victorious in their struggle with the Soviet forces but their victory was short lived. After Soviet forces withdrew the country fell into a disastrous period of warlordism. The country was divided into several regions each controlled by a different military commander. The commanders constantly engaged each other attempting to gain more territory. During the war with the Soviets and the subsequent civil war that followed over 1 million afghans lost their lives and nearly 1/3 of their population took refuge in foreign countries (Byman, 2005). This set up the scene for the takeover of the Taliban. The Taliban gained support from the people for having a reputation of faith and honesty. As the movement grew it became more extreme leading the country further into devastation. The country fell into the


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