During years of insurgency in Afghanistan the Taliban has not been defeated. They have however adapted into a more sophisticated organization than in the beginning of the insurgency. Rather than identifying them as a simple terror organization this study aims to analyze the Taliban ability to utilize sophisticated tactics and conduct special operations. By using William H. McRavens theory on relative superiority, this studies purpose is to investigate whether the 2012 attack on Helmand’s Camp Bastion can be compared to special operation or not. The study will be conducted as a case study analyzing the reports made by both U.S and British armed forces following the attack. This study concludes that the Taliban attack on Camp Bastion can be comparable to a successful special operation in almost every way according to the theory of relative superiority by McRaven. The study shows that the operation is only lacking parts of the principles simplicity and repetition.

On August 15, 2021, the Taliban entered the Afghan capital, Kabul, and a new period in Afghanhistory began. Fear of return to the former Taliban regime in the 1990s spread. However, the Taliban promised that women's rights would be respected. Their rights would be respected within the framework of the Islamic Sharia law. Women would have a place in society and access to work and education. Despite their promises, the Taliban soon began restricting women's rights.The purpose of this essay is to examine the Taliban's understanding of Sharia and see what view of women it results in. The essay also intends to clarify whether this view includes rights for women. The Taliban's understanding is examined from a rights perspective and through a critical perspective. A qualitative hermeneutic methodology is the basis for the thesis method, this method refers to understandings and interpretations. Additionally, 3 deep structured interviews were conducted and constitutes an important part of the essay.The study shows that the Taliban's understandings are strongly rooted in local traditions of Pashtun communities. Much of The Taliban's view of women comes from traditional Pashtun societies, and a lot of what they call Sharia is in fact taken from the Pashtun code of honour, Pashtunwali. The Taliban declare that they endorse Human Rights and believe that both men and women have rights, but that the rights appear different

Within the civil war literature, state-rebel relationships are traditionally understood as strictly contentious. However, empirical observations suggest that the two contending parties are not always in a state of total war and their collaboration is possible. Conceived in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, this study contributes to a greater understanding of state-rebel interactions during crises and seeks to explain why some rebel groups cooperate with state-led crisis response operations while the others obstruct. I propose that the nature of rebels’ political goals determine their behaviour vis-à-vis the state. The period of time after a disaster presents a window for rebels to strategically calculate and balance the costs and benefits of collaboration with the state. More specifically, I argue that the more transformative the rebel group’s goals are, the less likely the group will collaborate with the state for crisis relief. A structured comparative case study of the Taliban and Boko Haram lends preliminary support to the hypothesis. As one of the first to examine state-rebel relationships during the Covid-19 pandemic, the study invites future research to rethink how to accurately conceptualise and explain the diverse and puzzling interactions between states and rebels.

The master's thesis Insurgent Governance Systems: The Effectiveness of the Talban and the Islamic State is a qualitative comparative analysis of Islamic Jihadist rebel governance systems in the cases of the Islamic State and the Taliban. Using Mampilly's framework for effective rebel governance systems, I analyze the various factors, stemming from 'below', 'within', and 'above' that negatively and positively affect an insurgent government, its leadership, and the civilians that dynamically interact with the rebels. This thesis' aim is three part. First, it aims to show that variations between conventional rebel governments and Islamic Jihadist governance systems do exist. Second, that variation also exists between different Islamic Jihadist rebel governments, and that the challenges and opportunities presented by civilians and international actors are dealt with differently. Third, that the effectiveness of these rebel organizations is dependent on the factors presented by Mampilly, yet is not static as effectiveness of a rebel governance system changes throughout a conflict. This thesis found that significant variation, as well as some similarities, exists between conventional and Islamic Jihadist organizations; through analyzing the two cases presented, we can see variation does exist between the...

The American war in Afghanistan is the longest war in American history, yet there has seemed to be no clear argument for continuing the war for almost two decades. Unilateral withdrawals in counterinsurgency wars are not uncommon, especially if the other party involved is viewed as nondemocratic. This qualitative case study has investigated the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan and was guided by the key concepts of national interest, balance of power and security from realism, and the concepts of democratic peace theory, interdependence and international institutions from liberalism. This essay argues that it was mainly due to the decrease of the American national interest of Afghanistan as the attention turned towards the changing power structure in Asia as well as coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic domestically. This study has provided an overview of the withdrawal reasons for the United States, whilst showing that there is yet much to inquire on the subject.

Security Sector Reform (SSR) is considered a significant feature in post-conflict peacebuilding efforts typically employed by states and international partners. Recently, the concept of SSR has played a significant role in the statebuilding process in Afghanistan after the Taliban regime; however, a disorganised and unplanned withdrawal poses severe threats to the security sector. This thesis explores the SSR efforts made by the western states after the end of the Taliban regime. The holistic approaches present in policy and strategy documents are quite challenging when it comes to SSR implementation in a post-conflict country ruled by an insurgent group for years. This thesis illustrates two competing approaches that show how SSR played a role in the post-conflict peacebuilding within Afghanistan and how peace spoilers and US/NATO withdrawal will impact the gains of twenty years in SSR. In order to better analyse the SSR process, a case study of the Afghan National Police is used. Moreover, this thesis offers some practical policy recommendations that can be useful for the concept of SSR in Afghanistan. This thesis does not offer a solution to the challenges of SSR in post-conflict countries like Afghanistan. Yet, it suggests that an uncoordinated withdrawal of external powers can negatively...

The purpose of this study is to attempt to solve why the Taliban have been successful in Afghanistan. In an attempt to solve why, I develop and test a theory on the Taliban's success against the U.S. in Afghanistan. My theory claims that the Taliban have been successful due to U.S. forces committing wrongdoings towards Afghan civilians. These wrongdoings, in turn, pushed civilian support away from the U.S. and its allies in this war. Afghan civilians would side with the Taliban, as they sought protection from the invading forces in their country. As a result of this gain in support, the Taliban were able to bolster the preexisting social ties they had, which allowed them to garner more fighters and resources; the bolstering of their social networks made their success more achievable. I test my theory qualitatively through interviews with American veterans who served in the War in Afghanistan. Through the process of interviews, no evidence that indicates that U.S. forces mistreating Afghans is conditional for Afghans choosing the Taliban. Interviews instead indicate that Afghans chose the Taliban due to pressure and coercion. Despite the introduction of pressure, coercion, and other new potential factors I ultimately have determined my study to be inconclusive due to limitations that prevented the ability to conduct deeper research; those limitations will be explained in the Conclusion section.

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Under kontrollen av talibanernas totalitära regim har Afghanistan upplevt betydande inskränkningar i kvinnors rättigheter. Dessa inskränkningar inkluderar begränsningar i politiskt deltagande, rätt till utbildning och arbete, samt synlighet i det offentliga rummet. Under de 20 år då USA och världssamfundet var närvarande i landet, gjordes framsteg inom jämställdhet och kvinnors rättigheter. Men sedan USA:s tillbakadragande 2021 har situationen försämrats avsevärt. Formella institutioner har genomgått förändringar som begränsar kvinnors rättigheter, och afghanska kvinnor har drabbats hårt av talibanregimens systematiska inskränkningar. Generellt sett är Afghanistan ett patriarkalt samhälle när det gäller jämställdhet. Denna fallstudie bygger på kvalitativ innehållsanalys och undersöker kvinnors rättigheter som har påverkats av regimskifte, samt det kulturella och patriarkala pushtunwali-synsättet, vilket har haft inverkan på både informella och formella institutioner i frågor som rör jämställdhet och kvinnors rättigheter. / Under the control of the totalitarian Taliban regime, Afghanistan has faced significant restrictions on women's rights, including political participation, the right to education, work opportunities and visibility in public space. During the 20 years that the United States and the international community were present in the country, progress was made in gender equality and women's rights, but since the withdrawal of the United States in 2021, the situation has deteriorated significantly. Formal institutions have undergone changes that have limited women's rights, and Afghan women have been hit hard by the Taliban regime's systematic restrictions. Afghanistan is generally a patriarchal society when it comes to gender equality. This is a case study based on qualitative content analysis and examines women's rights that have been affected by regime change, as well as the cultural and patriarchal pushtunwali approach that has had an impact on informal and formal institutions when it comes to gender equality and women's rights.

Since 9/11, counterterrorism policies have been one of the crucial policy issues facing the United States. After the attacks on the United States, counterterrorism in this country transformed. Fifteen years later, counterterrorism is typically organized as a one-size fits all approach. This approach generalizes all terrorist threats, trying to target terrorism as a whole. This thesis explains how this is an improper approach to counterterrorism. Instead, policies should be case-specific and created in regards to the specific characteristics embodied by each terrorist organization. These characteristics include history and ideology, organizational and leadership structure, finances, and tactics and targets. These characteristics have been proven to comprise the composition of a one-of-a-kind terrorist organization. Each group expresses these characteristics differently, even if they share the same geographical location or religious background. Through research utilizing academic journal articles, current events, government publications, and published books, it is discovered how the unique characteristics displayed by Islamic Fundamentalist groups have counterterrorism policy implications. In order to portray this, this thesis analyzed characteristics of Al Qaeda, ISIS, and the Taliban. Through these case-studies, it was shown how distinct these groups are from one another and how these differences should be accounted for in counterterrorism policies. Once these differences are implemented into individualist counterterrorism policies, the United States can provide effective policies that target specific aspects of each terrorist organization instead of trying to combat terrorism as a whole.