International Security, Afghanistan and 2014: Seeds of Instability

There has been a plethora of books on Afghanistan in the last few years; un-fortunately, most of them have been written by Europeans and Americans. Hiranmay Karlekar’s work on Afghanistan is perhaps one of the few Indian in-depth analyses on contemporary Afghanistan. Despite the high rhetoric in India about the cultural and historical linkages with Kabul, there have not been many analyses either on the present or the future of Afghanistan, from an Indian perspective. Karlekar fills this void.

Karlekar begins with eleven significant events that took place while he was writing the book that would have an implication for the endgame in Afghanistan. Less than a year since the book was published, if we have to ask the author about whether he will stick to his ‘significant eleven’ or add/subtract other developments, perhaps the answer will be different. Undoubtedly, writing about contemporary Afghanistan and predicting the endgame will never be an easy task; Karlekar needs to be congratulated for courageously picking up this assignment.