Losers of Peace: Assessing the Role of the Crime-Terror Nexus in War-to-Peace Transitions: A Case Study of Afghanistan

The threat posed to the fragile security environment of post-conflict zones by criminal and terrorist groups have been a serious concern of peacebuilding for the last two decades. Through technological advancement and globalization, academia has started to put more emphasis on the possibility of convergence between these groups. The convergence threat has been particularly salient throughout the Afghan peace process. As the stage of a destructive and enduring conflict, and a peace mission that has been ongoing for more than a decade, Afghanistan has been the perfect host of crime and terror groups, the biggest example of which is the Taliban. Using the “Crime-Terror Continuum Theory” of Makarenko (2004), this research assesses how crime-terror groups have been affecting the success and failure of the Afghan post-conflict transitions to peace. The processes of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) are taken as the focal point of post...Show moreThe threat posed to the fragile security environment of post-conflict zones by criminal and terrorist groups have been a serious concern of peacebuilding for the last two decades. Through technological advancement and globalization, academia has started to put more emphasis on the possibility of convergence between these groups. The convergence threat has been particularly salient throughout the Afghan peace process. As the stage of a destructive and enduring conflict, and a peace mission that has been ongoing for more than a decade, Afghanistan has been the perfect host of crime and terror groups, the biggest example of which is the Taliban. Using the “Crime-Terror Continuum Theory” of Makarenko (2004), this research assesses how crime-terror groups have been affecting the success and failure of the Afghan post-conflict transitions to peace. The processes of demobilization, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) and security sector reform (SSR) are taken as the focal point of post-conflict transitions. The crime-terror continuum in practice is analyzed through a case study of the Taliban in Afghanistan. By conducting a content analysis of various official UN documents, NATO statements, articles by the Afghan Analysts Network and think-tank reports from the Afghan Institute of Strategic Studies, the study finds that the gradual evolution of the Taliban into a hybrid/convergent crime-terror organization has undermined the effectivity of the Afghan peace process, especially with regards to the reintegration phase.Show less

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Losers of Peace: Assessing the Role of the Crime-Terror Nexus in War-to-Peace Transitions: A Case Study of Afghanistan