Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Since 2010, the Program on Crisis, Conflict, and Cooperation (C3) has studied security, governance, and politics in Afghanistan and Pakistan to find potential paths to stability and prosperity. One line of research, focusing on service provision and governance, studied how different formal, informal, illicit, and hybrid institutions and actors operate. Another line, focusing on militant religious movements, studied the main insurgent groups attacking Afghan, Pakistani, Indian, and foreign targets in the region. A third line of research has looked at U.S. interests, values, and policies in the region, with a particular focus on Pakistan. Robert D. Lamb, director of the C3 program, is the principal investigator for these projects, with Sadika Hameed as the senior researcher.
The theme that emerges from this research is one of limitations. The United States and its allies are limited in their influence over people who hold de facto power in and out of government. It is necessary, therefore, to find pragmatic ways to deal with those who are malign or corrupt. But it is equally necessary to do so in a way that does not needlessly strengthen them or marginalize the moderates and reformers (in and out of government) whose efforts to transform their own countries remain the best hope for the region.
The C3 program is grateful to the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Henry Luce Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, and the Office of Naval Research for their financial support to these efforts. The views expressed in these publications do not reflect those of the funders, any entity of the U.S. government, or anyone other than the authors.
Research reports:
- Robert D. Lamb, Sadika Hameed, and Kathryn Mixon, South Asia Regional Dynamics and Concerns: A Framework for U.S. Policy and Strategy in South Asia, 2014-2026 (January 2014).
- Sadika Hameed, The Future of Cooperation between the United States and Pakistan (October 2013)
- Robert D. Lamb, Political Governance and Strategy in Afghanistan (April 2012)
- Robert D. Lamb and Sadika Hameed, Subnational Governance, Service Delivery, and Militancy in Pakistan (May 2012)
- Joy Aoun, Liora Danan, Sadika Hameed, Robert D. Lamb, Kathryn Mixon, and Denise St. Peter, Religious Movements, Militancy, and Conflict in South Asia: Cases from India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (June 2012)
- Sadika Hameed, Prospects for Indian and Pakistani Cooperation in Afghanistan (August 2012)
- Amin Tarzi and Robert D. Lamb, Measuring Perceptions about the Pashtun People (March 2011)
Literature reviews:
- Mariam Mufti, Religion and Militancy in Pakistan and Afghanistan: A Literature Review (June 2012)
- Stacey White, Government Decentralization in the 21st Century: A Literature Review (December 2011)
Conference report:
- Robert D. Lamb, Sadika Hameed, Joy Aoun, and Zeina Boustani, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Art of the Possible (June 2011)
Background papers:
- S.R. Mehboob, “Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province” (December 2011)
- S.R. Mehboob, “Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Southern Punjab Region” (December 2011)
- Mehlaqa Samdani, “Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Khyber Agency” (December 2011)
- Danny Cutherell, “Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Chitral District” (November 2011)
- Justine Fleischner, “Governance and Militancy in Pakistan’s Swat Valley” (October 2011)
- Stacey White, “The 2010 Flooding Disaster in Pakistan: An Opportunity for Governance Reform or another Layer of Dysfunction?” (September 2011)
- Robert D. Lamb, “Governance and Militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Project Executive Summary” (May 2011)
