U.S. active-duty service women's urogenital health and operational readiness through the lens of the IBM-WASH model: A systematic integrative review

Radiotherapy in conflict: lessons from Ukraine.

Different Drummers: Military Culture and Its Discontents

Pakistan has faced the menace of terrorism and extremism since the armed conflict in Afghanistan that caused serious damages to its internal security. The monster of Ethnic and Religious militancy is becoming more dangerous and Deadly. Loss of more than 50,000 precious human lives and Loss of economy estimated to be 78 Billion US$ in for the period 2004 to 2014 compelled the policy makers to formulate a comprehensive National internal Security Policy. Pakistan adopted its first-ever National Security Policy in 2014 and then its 2nd comprehensive policy framework was announced in 2018 for the next five years. Third of its kind is recently adopted in December 2021. This study is about the National Security Policy of Pakistan (NSP 2022-2026). To address political, economic, social, and environmental challenges faced by the people of Pakistan and the government in her policy-making process needs identification of gaps in the current security policy. The purpose of this assessment is to measure the effectiveness of the National Security Policy. NSP document needs to be analyzed properly to understand the worth of the claims by the government. Using qualitative analysis of documents, news, articles, and documentaries, this study investigates whether the vision of the document National Security Policy of Pakistan is attainable or how far the policy guides the way for peace, development, and security of the country. This study attempted to suggest the mechanism of efficiency and practical implementation of the security policy.

New changes of terrorism situation in South Asia and Southeast Asia could be seen from the increase of numbers of terrorist attacks, the increase retaliatory terrorist attacks and the increase of the combined risks and linkage effects of terrorism and other non-traditional security issues. The terrorist threat in South Asia and Southeast Asia is expected to continue in the near future because the threats severely posed by the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, the interaction and allying of terrorist organizations and terrorists’ exploitation of advanced technology. However, the practice of counter-terrorism police cooperation in South Asia and Southeast Asia was weak and fragile due to the poor performance of ASEAN counter-terrorism cooperation, the police cooperation within the framework of international organizations and cooperation at the bilateral and small multilateral level has not really meet the current challenges. The solutions offered in this paper are 4 ways to improve counter-terrorism police cooperation in South Asia and Southeast Asia: build a comprehensive and efficient counter-terrorism police cooperation mechanism, a stable and practical coordination mechanism, a joint counter-terrorism intelligence fusion center, a quality and level counter-terrorism police training mechanism of South Asia and Southeast Asia.

This study examines the political dimensions of Pakistan’s engagement as a frontline state in the US-led ‘War on Terror.’ The study argues that the ‘War on Terror’ overwhelmingly impacted Pakistan’s political milieu. Internally, the ‘War on Terror’ undermined civilian institutions, contributed to political fragmentation and increased military and violence. Moreover, the US-backed prolonged Musharraf rule, US structural presence in the country and deepening civil-military imbalance squeezed the political space of Pakistan Peoples Party-led government, thereby further complicating Pakistan’s political landscape. Externally, the War had profound impact on Islamabad’s genuine political interests vis-à-vis Kashmir and Afghanistan. The distrust between Kabul and Islamabad grew due to the ‘War on Terror’ and relations with Afghanistan were increasingly strained. With India, the tensions over Kashmir dispute remained the principal stumbling block in normalization of relations. The study concludes that the US-led ‘War on Terror’ remained an important factor to shape Pakistan’s political landscape by influencing its security and foreign policy. Keywords: Civil-military relations, Jammu & Kashmir dispute, Musharraf regime, Afghan conflict, Terrorism.

This article reports on trends in organized violence, building on new data by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP). The falling trend in fatalities stemming from organized violence in the world, observed between 2014 and 2019, was decisively reversed in 2021 as fatalities increased significantly. UCDP registered more than 119,100 deaths in organized violence in 2021, a 46% increase from the previous year. The increase was largely driven by escalating conflicts in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen. Fatalities increased in all three categories of organized violence, despite a decrease in the number of active state-based conflicts, as well as the number of actors carrying out one-sided violence against civilians. UCDP recorded 54 state-based conflicts in 2021, a decrease by two compared to the previous year. Five of the conflicts were active at the intensity of war, the lowest number of wars since 2010. Violence in 2021 was thus concentrated to fewer but bloodier conflicts. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, have become increasingly important features of modern conflicts, and the trend in their usage is discussed in the special feature section. UAV usage has since 2019 dispersed among a significant larger number of actors, even as the downscaling in the involvement of the United States in the war on terror has led to a decrease in drone-related fatalities.

With the dawn of the 21st century, a global political paradigmatic shift was witnessed; no longer was Europe considered to be the focal point of geopolitics. Now, all eyes were on the Asian continent; with the brewing Afghan conflict, the arguably rising global hegemony contender China, the convoluted Iranian crisis, rapidly rising economic powers in South-East Asia, the key strategic power of the Indian Ocean and India and, amidst all, the dramatically increasing footprint of the United States. Consequently, as states with opposing interests were ferociously competing for regional dominance, a great degree of political polarization was induced in the regional geopolitical structure, which in turn forced political realignments. Old foes became friends (India and the United States), whereas decades old alliances broke (Pakistan and the United States). This dramatic regional political paradigm shift has forced Pakistan to completely transform its foreign policy, from a pro-western to an eastern/regional approach. This article explores how the changing regional geopolitical dynamics is affecting Pakistan’s foreign policy. It does so by critically analysing the geopolitical realignments in the region and the myriad regional conflicts/crises, while predominantly highlighting their implications for Pakistan. A mix-approach based on descriptive and critical analytical qualitative research methods has been adopted to conduct this study.

In recent years, Qatar has become a role model as a state actor who can become a mediator in the territory of conflict countries. This article analyzes the role of Qatar as a mediator in the reconciliation of conflicts in Afghanistan in the 2013-2021 period, namely Qatar as a mediator from the United States and militant groups in Afghanistan. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the effectiveness of Qatar's foreign policy in realizing conflict reconciliation and ending the war in Afghanistan. This study uses qualitative research methods by collecting data through literature study and triangulation. Data were collected and analyzed using a descriptive-analytical approach. This research analysis uses role theory to see the level of effectiveness of Qatar's foreign policy in resolving the conflict in Afghanistan. Since for now the US and its allies have withdrawn all troops from Afghanistan and made the Taliban lead the country, role theory can look at how the factors that could ultimately lead both sides to end the war in Afghanistan. One of the factors is Qatar's mediating role which has pushed in conflict resolution to reach a peace agreement between the two sides and end the 20-year war in Afghanistan.

The impact of “moral injury” (MI) among deployed veterans, defined as actions in combat that violate a veteran's moral beliefs and result in psychological distress, has increasingly become a significant clinical concern separate from other trauma- and stressor-related disorders. MI involves severe distress over violations of core beliefs often followed by feelings of guilt and conflict and is common among veterans with PTSD. While the psychological impact of PTSD is well-documented among veterans, this has been done less so with respect to MI. We studied MI among 1,032 deployed veterans who were outpatients in a large non-profit multi-hospital system in central Pennsylvania. The study included active duty and Guard/Reserve members, as well as veterans who were not Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) service users. Our hypothesis was that, controlling for other risk factors, veterans with high MI would have current mental disorders. Our secondary hypothesis was that MI would be associated with other psychopathologies, including chronic pain, sleep disorders, fear of death, anomie, and use of alcohol/drugs to cope post deployment. Most veterans studied were deployed to Vietnam (64.1%), while others were deployed to post-Vietnam conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. Altogether, 95.1% of the veterans were male and their mean age was 61.6 years (SD = 11.8). Among the veterans, 24.4% had high combat exposure, 10.9% had PTSD, 19.8% had major depressive disorder, and 11.7% had a history of suicidal thoughts. Based on the Moral Injury Events Scale (MIES), 25.8% had high MI post deployment, defined as a score above the 75th percentile. Results show that high MI among veterans was associated with current global mental health severity and recent mental health service use, but not suicidal thoughts. In addition, as hypothesized, MI was also associated with pain, sleep disorders, fear of death, anomie, use of alcohol/drugs to cope post-deployment, and poor unit support/morale during deployment. Deployed veterans with MI are more likely to have current mental health disorders and other psychological problems years after deployment. Further research is advised related to the screening, assessment, treatment, and prevention of MI among veterans and others after trauma exposures.

This review examines how lessons learned from United States military conflicts, beginning with the United States Civil War through the engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan, have shaped current traumatic brain injury (TBI) care in the United States military, influenced congressional mandates and directives, and led to best practices in caring for the warfighter. Prior to the most recent war, emphasis was placed on improving the surgical and medical care of service members (SM) with severe and especially penetrating brain injuries. However, during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, also known as the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), blast injury from improvised explosive devices most often caused mild TBI (mTBI), an injury that was not always recognized and was labelled the "signature wound" of the GWOT. This has led to extensive research on objective diagnostic technologies for mTBI, the association of mTBI with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the long term consequences of mTBI. Here we summarize the key findings and most important advances from those efforts, and discuss the way forward regarding future military conflicts.

AimsIn 2020, Afghanistan supplied around 85% of the world's heroin. The recent Taliban takeover and political upheaval seems highly likely to impact the supply chain, but how? This literature review aims to explore the background of heroin production and possible consequences of the recent conflict, both for suppliers and for end users.MethodsIn addition to recent mainstream media news articles on the Afghanistan conflict, PubMed search terms “heroin adulteration” were used to find 202 results. Only results published from the year 2000 onwards were examined for relevance, leaving 160 results. These were reviewed for relevance and led to suggestions of similar PubMed articles to arrive at the final 23 sources used.ResultsStudies of previous heroin shortages in Australia and the UK are discussed to gain insight into the potential effects of a future shortage. A reduction in heroin exports from Afghanistan would cut down the supply to most nations excluding North and South America. Sources of evidence for our current understanding of the supply chain are examined. Specific US and UK policy failure which led to the current situation is also provided for context.Methods of production in Afghanistan and smuggling routes are also examined to help predict impending changes.ConclusionGiven the number of factors involved it is difficult to anticipate with much certainty how the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan will affect the global heroin trade, but based on the available literature it seems more likely that this will cause shortages rather than an increased supply.Clinicians should be aware that in line with previous shortages, this may cause a shift towards increased rates of polysubstance use in regular heroin users. We may also see a rise in incidents of harm from heroin adulteration with substances other than the currently widespread paracetamol and caffeine.

This article, based on conversations with the former UN and EU representative Francesc Vendrell, describes the efforts made by Vendrell to mediate between the international community and the various players in the Afghanistan conflict between 2000 and 2008, including the Taliban and the Northern Alliance. It covers the breakdown of the previous Tashkent Declaration, a meeting with Mullah Omar, the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, ‘9/11’, and the subsequent Bonn Accords and new Afghan constitution, in which Afghan warlords played a significant role. It also describes how the USA and Iran developed back-channel links during the period thanks to Vendrell’s mediation work, links which were later broken on account of President George W. Bush’s ‘Axis of Evil’ speech.

The fiscal cost of conflict: Evidence from Afghanistan 2005–2017

The creation of a harmonious relationship within an organization becomes the most crucial part of the process of achieving organizational goals. Cooperative relationships in an organization begin with communication and interaction between members, in addition to having an attitude of responsibility, honesty, broad-mindedness, and the courage to make decisions. Furthermore, a leader in an organization must maintain good communication skills. A similar case happened under the leadership of Salima Mazari as Governor of Charkint Afghanistan during the conflict in Afghanistan with the Taliban group. As a leader, Salima must be competent to defend her citizens and survive. Thus, communication makes it essential for Salima to communicate with government officials and the community. This study aimed to determine the communication pattern of Salima Mazari as a leader in Charkint, Afghanistan, an area that is being hit by a prolonged political conflict. The data collection method used in this research is a literature study with secondary data that discusses the managerial and leadership style of Salima Mazari as the Governor of Charkint Afghanistan during the conflict that hit Afghanistan by analyzing his motivation and leadership style. The theory used is organizational communication theory. Based on the results of this study, Salima Mazari tends to have a managerial and leadership kind of "Inviting Participants."

Recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have reawakened interest as well as controversies over how Western militaries tried to engage, with varying degrees of success, with the ‘Human Terrain’. These debates are far from new. This article explores the role played by a handful of Royal Air Force Intelligence Officers across the Aden Protectorates in the 1950s. Undoubtedly, they enjoyed notable success, not least in countering the immediate territorial avarice of Yemen and Saudi Arabia. But they remained agents of an empire in retreat, their effectiveness in harnessing a granular knowledge of the tribal landscape to the delivery of aerial violence being buffeted by an environment that they could not shape and over which, despite their best endeavours, Aden could exercise little control.

Abstract This study seeks to show that the Appeals Chamber of the ICC responsible for the ruling on the case of the armed conflict in Afghanistan has made an inchoate historic judgment. The analysis focuses on two main points: First, the reasoning made by the Prosecutor that the Pre-Trial Chamber abused its discretion in assessing the “interests of justice”; and second, the assessment of the scope of the procedural act. Finally, the unprecedented ruling of the ICC can consolidate the progressive positivism which now seems to be spreading across many areas of international law.

BackgroundThe U.S. military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan had the most casualties since Vietnam with more than 53,000 wounded in action. Novel injury mechanisms, such as improvised explosive devices, and higher rates of survivability compared with previous wars led to a new pattern of combat injuries. The purpose of the present study was to use latent class analysis (LCA) to identify combat injury profiles among U.S. military personnel who survived serious wounds.MethodsA total of 5,227 combat casualty events with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of 9 or greater that occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan from December 2002 to July 2019 were identified from the Expeditionary Medical Encounter Database for analysis. The Barell Injury Diagnosis Matrix was used to classify injuries into binary variables by site and type of injury. LCA was employed to identify injury profiles that accounted for co-occurring injuries. Injury profiles were described and compared by demographic, operational, and injury-specific variables.ResultsSeven injury profiles were identified and defined as: (1) open wounds (18.8%), (2) Type 1 traumatic brain injury (TBI)/facial injuries (14.2%), (3) disseminated injuries (6.8%), (4) Type 2 TBI (15.4%), (5) lower extremity injuries (19.8%), (6) burns (7.4%), and (7) chest and/or abdominal injuries (17.7%). Profiles differed by service branch, combat location, year of injury, injury mechanism, combat posture at the time of injury, and ISS.ConclusionLCA identified seven distinct and interpretable injury profiles among U.S. military personnel who survived serious combat injuries in Iraq or Afghanistan. These findings may be of interest to military medical planners as resource needs are evaluated and projected for future conflicts, and medical professionals involved in the rehabilitation of wounded service members.

<i>Heartland</i> (2007–2021 and ongoing)

The article aims to identify the challenges facing the command system in the context of changes that will shape future military operations. For the presentation of the cognitive results, the analysis of documents was used as well as the results of research conducted with the aid of a diagnostic survey, an interview method, as well as non-standardized observation. The structure of the article covers four main issues. The first one presents the relationship between the terms “directing – management – command” in the context of the deliberations made. The second topic focuses on the characteristics of future operations that define the challenges for command. The third one, on the other hand, explains the matters related to the modification of the command in future military operations. The issue complementing all the considerations is an attempt to resolve the problem of recommendations for the command system in the wars of the future. The content of the article uses the conclusions from the experience gained during the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.