Afghanistan - A Forensic Examination of a State in Crisis

John and David with Shaz absent but with us 'in spirit' take the opportunity to interview Prof. Albert Wolf again, this time on the fate of the nation he is currently working in, Afghanistan.

Here is extra information on some of the terms used in this episode for those who may not be familiar with them and also some useful terms to know when unpacking events in Afghanistan:

Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) the name of the branch of the Islamic State that is active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of Central Asia

Afghan National Army (ANA)

National Directorate of Security (NDS) - the intelligence agency of Afghanistan

Afghanistan-Pakistan (AfPak) theatre

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - part of China's proposed strategic One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative linking countries to China via a massive road and rail network

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formally known as Zaire and before that, the Belgian Congo.

The Second Congo War (1998-2003) claimed 5.4 million lives, mainly through disease and starvation. Fighting was largely a byproduct of ethnic upheavals between the Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda that spread into the eastern DRC, eventually sucking in the whole Great Lakes region of central Africa. Unregulated private companies and interests used the war as a cover for illegal resource extraction

Afghanistan's poppy crop goes into 90 percent of the world's production of heroine. Some have suggested that Afghanistan is in fact a 'narco-state'

Afghanistan's population is 33.3 million. The population broken into its ethnic parts: Pashtun 47%; Tajik 27%; Hazara 9%; Uzbek 9%; Aimak 4%; Turkmen 3%; Baloch 2%; Other 4%

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