Security of Ecology in Afghanistan

Abstract

"Homer-Dixon refers to five 'tectonic stresses' synergistically confronting the modern world: Population growth and urbanization, lack of reliable energy sources, environmental damage, climate change, and increasing economic inequity. The premise of this essay is that nowhere are these stresses more extreme than in Afghanistan. A geographic, political, economic, and cultural nexus, today the country is profoundly dysfunctional. The environmental threat to its existential viability is widely ignored, given the focus on internal military security. The latter is important for nation-building, á la Weber's monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Yet the purpose of this essay is to explore an alternative view of security; long term economic prosperity of its people based on land sustainability. This essay identifies direct and indirect impacts from 30 years of war on Afghan ecology, as well as non-war-related impacts. Afghanistan is beset with multiple layered problems that have accumulated over decades and cannot be solved sequentially or independently. Success in military security without addressing environmental crisis may still result in a profoundly failed state. Most analyses of Afghanistan discuss the ecology of security, but this essay is about security of the ecology."