| Publication |
2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
After a decade of bloodshed and suffering, the western-sponsored coalition in Afghanistan led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has failed to win the "hearts and minds" of locals. The tremendous sacrifices by the United States, Canada, and their allies have produced some tangible results, but steps forward have been made on the shaky ground of overall insecurity and violence and have primarily been associated with certain urban developments, while most of Afghanistan remains deeply rural in its feudal social order and conservative Islamic traditions. Although the Canadian experience in Afghanistan has been very different in its scope and objectives from the Soviet Union's operations of the 1980s, certain important parallels, particularly concerning counterinsurgency, can be discerned.
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