Afghanistan has been at civil war for over 30 years. The withdrawal of the UN-mandated and NATO-led ISAF troops is scheduled for 2014. Against this background, Arvid Bell analyzes the different conflicts underlying the current stage of the war in HSFK Report 4/2013 Verhandeln statt Bürgerkrieg: Ein Plädoyer für Waffenstillstand und offizielle Friedensgespräche in Afghanistan (Negotiations, Not Civil War: The Case for a Ceasefire and Official Peace Talks in Afghanistan).
He argues that the strategy of "security handover" does not consider this complex conflict. The author recommends to de-escalate the Afghan civil war by means of official peace negotiations between the key conflict parties. For this purpose, he provides concrete suggestions on how the USA, the NATO and Germany can support a formalized and inclusive peace process.
The HSFK-Report is available at PRIF for 6 € or can be downloaded as PDF for free.