NATO and Afghanistan: Beginning of an Orderly or a Messy Process of Withdrawal?

This paper proposes that the proposed pullout from Afghanistan is likely to be a messy affair and not as desired. The leaderships of the NATO countries were pushed by domestic considerations to lay out a program for withdrawal of their troops at a more accelerated pace than they had originally envisaged. The author argues that the US will remain engaged in Afghanistan in one way or other for years to come while the country itself will remain a brightly lit spot of concern on the international radar screen.

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