Suhail Ahmad is pursuing his PhD research “Internal Dynamics of Afghan Conflict: a Look into Governance” at the department of Political Science, University of Kashmir. He obtained his master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Studies from the Islamic University of Science and Technology, Kashmir and second master’s in European Union and Central Asia in International System (EUCAIS), jointly organized by CIFE and IEP, Germany. He is a member of Emerald Literati Network, a UK based network of authors, editors, and researchers. Between 2012 and 2015 Suhail participated as a junior research fellow in the project called “Exploring Patterns of Regional and Interregional Cooperation: Central Asia, its Neighboring Countries, and Europe”, which was jointly organized by three eminent research institutes: University of Giessen, University of Bielefeld, and University of Dortmund. Suhail has worked as a youth coordinator at the Indo Global Social Service Society (former Indo German Social Service Society), an international NGO focusing on gender issues and youth work. He also worked as a program coordinator for the Chotay Taray Foundation (CTF), an NGO managed by CRY India where he worked with/on issues concerning differently abled children. Suhail is also a member of “Anonymous Kashmir” an apolitical organization with a focus on socio -cultural dynamism in Kashmir.

Curriculum vitae can be found here.

Doctoral thesis

Topic: “Internal Dynamics of Afghan Conflict: Evaluating Governance”

Supervisor: Prof. Dr Asifa Jan

Abstract:

The current political conflict in Afghanistan has been studied from an outside perspective with very little attention being paid to the internal perspectives that have also contributed significantly to the escalation of the conflict in the region. This study first focuses on examining the loopholes (both social and political) of both; “the mainstream government” (including both its interim phases and the permanent establishment and sustenance) and also the “Taliban” since Taliban also governed Afghanistan after the end of the civil war till 2001. It should be remembered that governance is not analyzed completely rather only a few very important indicators are studied, for example, rule of law, transparency and accountability, and institutionalization, since these factors have been the primary aspects of the crisis in Afghanistan vis-à-vis post war recovery and reconstruction. Apart from these aspects, other complementary internal factors as well are studied comprehensively, for example the paramount factor of multi-ethnic complexion of the Afghan society which has remained as a driving force for all the historic and present day crisis in Afghanistan. The immediate network neighborhood of the region and its role in both positive as well as negative developments in Afghanistan are thoroughly researched. The study concludes by providing the therapeutic inputs against these loopholes by first delineating the concepts of governance and also the Islamic form of governance and then most importantly comparing the modes of governance and elucidating what went wrong and where.

The objective of this research is to analyze a variety of internal factors that catalyzed the conflict in Afghanistan. To do so the genesis of the US-Taliban conflict is examined and taken into account. Moreover, the role the lack of good governance played in the Afghanistan conflict is analyzed. In addition, the study tries to identify the role good governance can play in the conflict resolution and in the transformation process.