1. U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Foreign Aid by Country: Afghanistan.
2. World Bank and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Transition in Afghanistan, 18.
3. Shakeela Ibrahimkhail, “Afghan War Costs Country $9bn a Year,” TOLO News (Afghanistan), October 19, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/21960-afghan-war-costs-country-9bn-a-year.
4. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, January 30, 2012, 4.
5. Saleha Soadat, “Education Minister Says Predecessor Falsified Data on Active Schools,” TOLO News, May 27, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/19727-education-minister-says-predecessor-falsified-data-on-active-schools.
6. Obama, “Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the Way Forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
7. U.S. Agency for International Development, Results of USAID’s Spending.
1. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, U.S. Civilian Uplift in Afghanistan Is Progressing, 13.
1. Although officially a district sub-governor, Nazak was always referred to as the (district) governor or DG.
2. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, U.S. Civilian Uplift in Afghanistan Is Progressing, 14.
1. “These issues may be related to food security, subsistence agriculture, agricultural production to address market demand, or income generation activities within the context of community demand.” Agriteam Canada Consulting, Afghanistan Villages Development Project Number A-033707, Mid-Term, 1.
2. Gopal, No Good Men among the Living, 192–98.
3. Recovery and Development Consortium, University of York, Strategic Conflict Assessment of Afghanistan, Final Report, 2.
4. Recovery and Development Consortium, University of York, Strategic Conflict Assessment of Afghanistan, Final Report, 3.
5. McChrystal, Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan, Commander’s Initial Assessment, 1–2.
6. Grau, Bear Went over the Mountain, 84.
7. Liaison Office–Afghanistan (TLO), District Assessment—Dand District, Kandahar Province, 28.
1. Eric Slater, “These Spies Called the Shots in Strikes against Taliban,” Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2002.
2. Tomsen, Wars of Afghanistan, 531–35.
3. Tomsen, Wars of Afghanistan, 533.
4. Gopal, Battle for Afghanistan, 6, 9.
5. Farmer in the Baghtu Valley, interview by author, Shah Wali Khot District, Kandahar, February 12, 2010.
1. Richard W. Stevenson, “As U.S. Withdraws Troops, Fears That Afghan Aid Will Dry Up,” New York Times, February 14, 2013.
2. James Petersen, “Was $73B in Aid to Afghanistan All for Naught?,” Bakersfield Californian, January 14, 2012.
3. Norris, “Crucible.”
4. Addleton, “Dust of Kandahar,” 26.
5. Abdul Rashid, in discussion with author, Dand District Center, Kandahar, July 12, 2011.
6. Asia Foundation, Afghanistan in 2011, 25.
7. Ladbury and Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU), Testing Hypotheses on Radicalisation in Afghanistan, 4–5, 29.
8. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, January 30, 2012, 3.
9. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, January 30, 2012, 15. ANSF refers to the Afghan National Security Forces.
1. U.S. Department of State, “Refining Our Governance Orientation in Light of Transition,” 2–3.
2. U.S. Department of State, “Implementing a New Governance Orientation,” 4.
3. U.S. Department of State, “Implementing a New Governance Orientation,” 4.
4. Recovery and Development Consortium, University of York, Strategic Conflict Assessment of Afghanistan, Final Report, 47.
5. Dobbins, Jones, Crane, and DeGrasse, Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building, 73 (emphasis added).
1. World Bank and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Transition in Afghanistan, 5. See also World Bank and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Executive Summary, Transition in Afghanistan, 1.
2. World Bank, Afghanistan Economic Update, 9.
3. World Bank, Afghanistan Economic Update, 9.
4. World Bank, Afghanistan Economic Update, 8.
5. World Bank and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Transition in Afghanistan, 13.
6. World Bank and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Transition in Afghanistan, 13.
7. District Governor Hamdullah Nazak, in discussion with author, Dand District Center, Kandahar, July 4, 2011.
1. Gopal, Battle for Afghanistan, 36.
2. “Afghan Taliban Seize Humvees for Sneak Attacks and Propaganda,” Reuters, September 22, 2015, accessed at http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-taliban-seize-humvees-sneak-attacks-propaganda-104212488.html.
3. Waldman, Sun in the Sky, 1.
4. Waldman, Sun in the Sky, 14.
5. McChrystal, My Share of the Task, 345.
6. Lawrence Bartlett, “Afghan Forces Deaths Outstrip NATO’s 5–1: Officials,” Agence France-Press, July 29, 2012, accessed at http://www.muscatdaily.com/Archive/World/Afghan-forces-deaths-outstrip-NATO-s-5-1-Officials-1lfb.
1. World Bank and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ministry of Finance, Transition in Afghanistan, 6–7.
2. U.S. Department of Defense, Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan.
3. Zabiullah Jahanmal, “Finance Ministry Irked at Under-Spending of Budget,” TOLO News, July 16, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/20488-finance-ministry-irked-at-under-spending-of-budget.
4. “Provinces Being Authorised to Spend Budget,” Pajhwok News (Kabul), May 6, 2015, http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2015/05/06/provinces-being-authorised-spend-budget.
5. Chandrasekaran, Little America, 183–84.
6. Barfield, Afghanistan, 164.
1. Lynsey Addario, “Assassination in Afghanistan Creates a Void,” New York Times, July 12, 2011.
2. Joshua Partlow, “Afghan Central to U.S. Push in Kandahar Faced Allegations in Job with Contractor,” Washington Post, May 26, 2010.
3. Asia Foundation, Afghanistan in 2011, 21.
4. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Islamic Republic of Afghanistan High Office of Oversight and Anti-Corruption, Corruption in Afghanistan, 5.
5. Ladbury and Cooperation for Peace and Unity (CPAU), Testing Hypotheses on Radicalisation in Afghanistan, 180.
6. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, January 30, 2012, 17.
7. “Public See Corruption as a Major Problem: Survey,” TOLO News, August 12, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/afghanistan/public-see-corruption-major-problem-survey.
8. Bashir Ahmad Naadim, “Past Kandahar Rulers Only Served Powerful: Azizi,” Pajhwok News, August 12, 2015, http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2015/08/12/past-kandahar-rulers-only-served-powerful-azizi.
1. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, SIGAR Alert Letter to the Secretary of Defense.
2. Kevin Sieff, “For Afghan Troops, Donkeys Are the New Helicopters,” Washington Post, November 9, 2012.
3. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, January 30, 2012, 19.
4. Miller, Hosenball, and Moreau, “Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight.” See also Hosenball, “Afghan Cops.”
5. David Isenberg, “The Contractors That Couldn’t Shoot Straight?,” Huffington Post, April 18, 2010, accessed at http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/contractors-couldnt-shoot-straight.
6. “Afghan Troops Doing Well but Still Need Coalition Support: Shoffner,” TOLO News, August 14, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/node/11013.
7. Davis, “Truth, Lies and Afghanistan.”
8. Quoted in Dan De Luce, “Afghan Forces Will Be ‘Good Enough’ to Take Over: US,” Agence France-Press, February 8, 2012, accessed at http://english/alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/08/193469.html.
9. Soldier of the Iowa National Guard, interview by author, Khost Province, October 2007. See also “Afghan Police Delayed for Years,” Doug Grindle: Journalism Worldwide (blog), October 7, 2007, http://www.douggrindle.blogspot.com/2007_10_07_archive.html.
10. District Governor Hamdullah Nazak, in discussion with author, Dand District Center, May 10, 2011.
11. Tahir Khan, “Over 30 ‘Pakistani Clerics’ Expelled from Afghanistan,” Express Tribune (Pakistan), October 10, 2012, http://tribune.com.pk/story/449394/over-30-pakistani-clerics-expelled-from-afghanistan/.
12. Geisler, 5-1 CAV Operations in Kandahar (video).
1. Mohammad Ibrahim Spesalai, “Afghan Raisin Producers Hope for Sweeter Future,” Institute for War and Peace Reporting, December 2, 2014, https://iwpr.net/global-voices/afghan-raisin-producers-hope-sweeter-future.
2. Gyanendra Kumar Keshri, “Afghanistan Keen to Trade with India via Wagah-Attari Border,” The Nation (Pakistan), July 2, 2012, http://nation.com.pk/national/02-Jul-2012/kabul-keen-to-trade-with-india-via-wagha-border.
1. Agence France-Press, “Afghan Suicide Blast Kills 8,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation, March 30, 2009, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-03-30/afghan-suicide-blast-kills-8/1635776.
2. Taimoor Shah and Rod Nordland, “Car Bomber Fails to Reach Afghan Governor, but Kills Children at Play,” New York Times, August 2, 2010.
3. Bernard Smith, “Haji Hamdullah Nazak Defying Threats on Afghan Taliban Turf,” Al Jazeera, November 12, 2012, accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OobjTiKMwtI.
4. Tahir Khan, “Over 30 ‘Pakistani Clerics’ Expelled from Afghanistan,” Express Tribune, October 10, 2012, http://tribune.com.pk/story/449394/over-30-pakistani-clerics-expelled-from-afghanistan.
5. Communication to author, December 2013.
6. “Bomb Kills Police Chief in Afghanistan,” Al Jazeera, November 4, 2012, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2012/11/201211382432216938.html.
1. Gopal, No Good Men among the Living, 101–17.
2. Ben Sheppard, “Conflicting Loyalties among Afghans at Mullah Omar’s Mosque,” Agence Press-France, December 19, 2014, accessed at http://news.yahoo.com/conflicting-loyalties-among-afghans-mullah-omars-mosque-104804351.html.
3. “Afghan Forces Capture Taliban Bastion in S. Afghanistan,” Xinhua News (China), February 7, 2015, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-02/07/c_133977643.htm.
1. Elizabeth Chuck, “As Heroin Use Grows in U.S., Poppy Crops Thrive in Afghanistan,” NBC News, July 7, 2015, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/heroin-use-grows-u-s-poppy-crops-thrive-afghanistan-n388081.
2. Mirwais Khan and Lynne O’Donnell, “Afghanistan’s Poppy Farmers Say New Seeds Will Boost Opium Output,” Associated Press, May 5, 2015, accessed at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/05/afghanistan-opium_n_7216756.html.
3. Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, Quarterly Report to the United States Congress, April 30, 2015, 117.
4. Anthony Boadle and Hamid Shalizi, “Ex U.S. Official: Afghan Leader Shields Drug Trade,” Reuters, July 24, 2008, http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/07/24/us-afghanistan-drugs-IDUSN2444215920080724#gcRddLFFCscw0TQE.97.
5. “Provinces Being Authorised to Spend Budget,” Pajhwok News, May 6, 2015, http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2015/05/06/provinces-being-authorised-spend-budget. See also “Ministries Only Spent 17% Budget in 5 Months of Fiscal Year: MoF,” Ariana News (Afghanistan), May 31, 2015, http://ariananews.af/latest-news/ministries-only-spent-17-budget-in-5-months-of-fiscal-yearmof/; and Shakeela Ibrahimkhail, “Presidential Palace Employees Have Gone Unpaid for Months,” TOLO News, July 28, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/20646-presidential-palace-employees-have-gone-unpaid-for-months.
1. “UNICEF Finds 40% of Afghan Kids Out of School,” TOLO News, January 12, 2016, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/23263-unicef-finds-40-of-afghan-kids-out-of-school. See also Saleha Soadat, “Education Minister Says Predecessor Falsified Data on Active Schools,” TOLO News, May 27, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/19727-education-minister-says-predecessor-falsified-data-on-active-schools.
2. Javed Hamim Kakar, “Taliban Scorn UN Report as a Propaganda Campaign,” Pajhwok News, August 5, 2015, http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2015/08/05/taliban-scorn-un-report-propaganda-campaign.
3. Zabiullah Zhanmal, “Unemployment Rate Spikes in Afghanistan,” TOLO News, October 2, 2015, http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/21676-unemployment-rate-spikes-in-afghanistan.
4. McChrystal, Commander NATO International Security Assistance Force, Afghanistan, Commander’s Initial Assessment, 1-1.
5. Unclassified email from IPA/SNG, U.S. Embassy, Kabul, July 2011.
6. Larry Shaughnessy, “Cost of Keeping One Soldier in Afghanistan Is Rising,” CNN, February 28, 2012, accessed at http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/28/one-soldier-one-year-850000-and-rising/.
7. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles quoted in UK House of Commons, Oral Evidence Taken before the Foreign Affairs Committee regarding the UK’s Foreign Policy Approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
8. Lockhart and Ghani, Fixing Failed States, 205–6.