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Afghanistan has long been a crossroads of world cultures, economies, politics, and militaries. RAND's early research on Afghanistan examined the 1980s Soviet military campaign and the subsequent fundamentalist Islamic regime. Since Operation Enduring Freedom, the 2001 U.S. military effort to rout the Taliban and find Osama bin Ladin's Al Qaeda network, RAND has engaged the new Afghan government, military, and people to support reconstruction, counterinsurgency, and nation-building efforts.

Report
U.S. Policy Toward the Taliban: Engage, Isolate, or Oppose?
With the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan and a growing humanitarian crisis, the United States faces several policy options. While isolation is the usual response to an unwelcome regime change, engagement offers the only prospect to advance U.S. interests in the country, mainly counterterrorism and humanitarian relief.
May 26, 2022
Commentary
Afghan Refugees Are Being Recruited to Join an Iranian Paramilitary
As Western policymakers consider how to deal with Afghan evacuees, including former members of the Afghan security forces, they might consider how to prevent adversaries such as Iran from recruiting Afghan refugees for dangerous and destabilizing operations. Greater attention to these risks may become increasingly important as refugee flows from Afghanistan continue.
Nov 23, 2021

Explore Afghanistan

Commentary
Afghanistan After America: A Fragile Stability
Since 2011, the United States, the Afghan government, and the Taliban have engaged in intermittent and often indirect talks about peace negotiations. It may be stalemate on the battlefield that eventually forces the parties to break this stalemate over the shape of a peace process.
Nov 14, 2014
Commentary
Are Ethnic Politics Afghanistan's Great Hope?
Afghanistan's ethnic politics have tended to absorb inter-communal struggle more than exacerbate it. Afghan politicians have consistently opted for an ethnic balance of power once the votes are counted. The unity government deal brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry aims to restore the ethnic balance that persisted under Hamid Karzai for more than a decade.
Nov 11, 2014
Commentary
What's the Plan? The Afghan Government
With the election dispute settled, one can sense a feeling of hope and opportunity among the Afghan political spectrum. Members of each camp are voicing optimism and saying the right things, but before the unity government can address the country's issues, it must first clear the hurdle of appointing new leadership.
Nov 10, 2014
Commentary
The Future Lies in Afghanistan's Hands
With the signing of international security agreements this week, there's been a resurgence of hope that a bright future for Afghanistan is possible. But that future will ultimately be determined only by the Afghans.
Oct 3, 2014
Commentary
Afghanistan's Best Bet
On Sunday, Ashraf Ghani was declared the victor in a contest to determine Afghanistan's next president. The process has been infuriating but the end product of this mess was the best possible outcome: best for Afghanistan, best for the region, and best for the United States.
Sep 24, 2014
Commentary
Afghanistan Back to the Brink
The impasse between the Abdullah and Ghani camps has grown so significant that some senior Afghan political and security officials considered imposing an interim government, a move tantamount to a coup.
Sep 8, 2014
Commentary
Let's Talk About Kashmir
When U.S. combat troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan in December 2014, and training units follow two years later, the dynamics that once turned northern India's Kashmir into both a target and an incubator of global terrorism may return. This would threaten U.S. security, as well as that of the region.
Sep 8, 2014
Report
China's Strategy Toward South and Central Asia
China's response to the complex challenges on its western borders during the past two decades has been to adopt an
Aug 11, 2014
Commentary
Iraq's Lessons for Afghanistan
The successes of ISIS and other Sunni groups have raised important questions about the wisdom of America's decision to withdraw U.S. military forces from Iraq in 2011. They raise equally significant questions about the U.S. decision to exit Afghanistan in the future.
Aug 4, 2014
Commentary
Is Afghanistan the Next to Crumble?
Amid the stunning rout of Iraqi forces in northern Iraq, many have asked whether a similar reversal of American foreign policy goals is possible in Afghanistan. The answer is a qualified yes. Now is the time for the United States to understand Afghanistan's coming struggle, and to help Afghans build a path to stability.
Jun 24, 2014
Commentary
Victory, Afghan Style
A good outcome in Afghanistan seems less likely now than a few weeks ago, but there is still cause for guarded optimism: before this electoral season, few would have guessed that the final showdown would be between a pair of level-headed pro-Western moderates rather than two foul, bloodstained warlords.
Jun 23, 2014
News Release
Iran's Interests in Afghanistan Provide Opportunities for Cooperation with United States
Although relations between Iran and the U.S. have been strained, both countries have similar goals in wanting to see a stable Afghanistan free of Taliban control. In the event of a nuclear deal, Iran and the U.S. can work together in countering narcotics trafficking in Afghanistan and resolve water disputes between the neighboring nations.
Jun 19, 2014
Report
Iran's Interests in Afghanistan Provide Opportunities for Cooperation with United States
Iran and U.S. relations have been strained but both countries want to see a stable Afghanistan free of Taliban control. In the event of a nuclear deal, Iran and the U.S. can work together to counter narcotics trafficking and resolve water disputes between the neighboring nations.
Jun 19, 2014
Dissertation
It Takes a Village: Network Effects on Rural Education in Afghanistan
Studies the playmate networks of children in 31 rural villages of central Afghanistan and how that relational information could improve programming of a rural schooling program.
Jun 13, 2014
Blog
The Bergdahl-Taliban Prisoner Exchange Isn't New, but Presents Unique Questions
While it's been many years since the United States secured the release of a POW via prisoner exchange, RAND's Jonah Blank, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member, says that such deals are nothing new.
Jun 4, 2014
Commentary
Is There a Hidden Message in the Taliban's 2014 Fighting Season Plan?
The Taliban announced “Khaibar,” their plan for the operations they will be conducting this spring and summer. The reference to Khaibar — a conventional battle in which noncombatants were left unharmed — might actually hint at a strategy aimed at post-conflict reconciliation.
May 31, 2014
Commentary
Book Review: A Reporter Analyzes the Driving Role of Pakistan in the Afghan War
With its focus on Pakistan, Gall's “The Wrong Enemy” is a valuable contribution to a body of work on the American war in Afghanistan that has become stale and hackneyed. It provides a raw, unvarnished look at one of the darkest and least understood parts of the war.
Apr 11, 2014
Commentary
The Importance of the Election in Afghanistan
It is easy to assume the outcome of the race doesn't really matter for U.S. policy. But an ossifying government excludes and disenfranchises youth with new ideas. Without popular participation, Afghanistan's future becomes more prone to partisan cleavages and extremism.
Apr 7, 2014
Report
Lessons Learned from the Afghan Mission Network: Developing a Coalition Contingency Network
Reviews and assesses the operational and technical history of the Afghan Mission Network, the primary network for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and identifies lessons learned for future coalition networks.
Mar 28, 2014
Commentary
Stuck Between a Rock and the 'Zero Option'
A total drawdown of American forces — the “zero option” — is a real possibility. Recently, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced the United States would begin planning for this contingency because of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's failure to sign a bilateral security agreement.
Mar 13, 2014

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Researcher Spotlight

Leslie Adrienne Payne

Political Scientist

Leslie Adrienne Payne (she/her) is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation with a combined background in social and political science and qualitative research methods. Since 2012, much of her research has focused on terrorism and counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and civilian-military…
James Dobbins

Senior Fellow

Ambassador James Dobbins is a senior fellow and distinguished chair in Diplomacy and Security at the RAND Corporation. He has held State Department and White House posts including assistant secretary of State for Europe, special assistant to the president for the Western Hemisphere, special…

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