What has driven neighboring states to intervene in the Afghan conflict? This book challenges mainstream analyses which place Afghanistan at the center – the so-called “heart” – of a large pan-Asian region, whose fate is predicated on Afghan stability. Instead, the authors situate Afghanistan on the margins of three regional security complexes – those of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf – each characterized by security dynamics and rivalries, which, in turn, inform the engagement of their constituent states in Afghanistan. The book thus adapts the analytical framework developed by ... More

What has driven neighboring states to intervene in the Afghan conflict? This book challenges mainstream analyses which place Afghanistan at the center – the so-called “heart” – of a large pan-Asian region, whose fate is predicated on Afghan stability. Instead, the authors situate Afghanistan on the margins of three regional security complexes – those of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Persian Gulf – each characterized by security dynamics and rivalries, which, in turn, inform the engagement of their constituent states in Afghanistan. The book thus adapts the analytical framework developed by Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver in their book Regions and Powers (2003) to the region neighboring Afghanistan. Within the South Asia Security Complex, Pakistan and India’s sustained engagement with Afghanistan can thus be understood in the context of their own perennial rivalries. Within Central Asia, security cooperation is hampered by competition for regional supremacy and great power support, a dynamic reflected in these states’ half-hearted engagement in Afghanistan. In the Persian Gulf, Iran and Saudi Arabia are locked in a rivalry for economic and political influence, which is in turn mirrored in their Afghan engagements. The implication is that neighborly interference in the Afghan conflict is best addressed by resolving tensions within each of its surrounding regions. Based on a careful account of the recent history, the book explains why recent efforts to build a comprehensive Afghanistan-centric regional security order have failed, and suggests what might be done to reset inter-state relations in the wider neighborhood.