seyed Hadi Zarghani; Fayyaz MazloumYar
Abstract
AbstractThe creation of countries based on borders is the product of the second half of the nineteenth century, and Afghanistan is one of the first countries to be established on this basis. Afghanistan's current political borders are imposed, largely influenced by the political struggles and rivalries ...
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AbstractThe creation of countries based on borders is the product of the second half of the nineteenth century, and Afghanistan is one of the first countries to be established on this basis. Afghanistan's current political borders are imposed, largely influenced by the political struggles and rivalries of British and British power in Tsarist Russia in the 19th century and during the Great Game to prevent a direct confrontation between the two powers in Central Asia. They set up a barrier between themselves and established the country's political borders through several treaties. Meanwhile, the Durand Line and the issue of Pashtunistan are very important because the developments in Afghanistan after the signing of the Durand Line entered a new phase that over time and major changes such as Britain's withdrawal from the subcontinent and India's independence not only failed. With the advent of Pakistan and the conflict of interest between the two neighboring countries, the complexity of events has increased and continues to this day. The present study, using descriptive-analytical methods and citing reliable library sources, seeks to examine the role of major powers such as Britain and Russia in shaping Afghanistan's political borders, especially the Durand Line, and its negative consequences for Afghanistan and its role in creating differences between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The results show that regional and supra-regional powers, especially Britain, played a role in shaping Afghanistan's borders, and Durand's mystery is one of the leftovers of British-Indian colonialism, which has now become a source of discord between Afghanistan and Pakistan and its negative consequences. To Afghanistan has included land closures and lack of access to open waters, support and rise of political instability in Afghanistan, global insecurity, the collapse of the social system, and so on.
maysam solaymani; Seyyed Assadollah Athari; Gholam Reza Miri
Abstract
Water scarcity, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, is one of the problems of the current century. According to forecasts for 2030, about 47% of the world's population will live in areas with severe water shortages. On the other hand, rivers do not recognize political borders, and ...
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Water scarcity, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of the world, is one of the problems of the current century. According to forecasts for 2030, about 47% of the world's population will live in areas with severe water shortages. On the other hand, rivers do not recognize political borders, and this fact has created a unique and complex situation for Iran and its border rivers, one of the most sensitive of which is in relation to the border waters of Iran and Afghanistan. For example, the dispute over the Helmand River, which originates in Afghanistan and flows into Iran's Hamoon Wetland, is 150 years old and has brought Iran and Afghanistan to the negotiating table many times, and various agreements have been concluded that have little effect on the issue. There has been no water crisis in Sistan, which stems from Afghanistan's water supply policies from the region. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to answer the main question: what crises and consequences have the water crisis in Sistan and Afghanistan's water policies had for Sistan and Baluchestan? To answer this question and to identify the situation of water resources in Sistan and Baluchestan, which is affected by these policies, it has been studied using the field method. The results show that Helmand is the only source of water supply in Sistan.
Nasser Yusefzehi; Hossein Farzanehpour; Ahmad Bakhshi
Abstract
Extended Abstract
Introduction
Afghanistan's tenacity in the eastern Iranian Economy has been the re-emergence of the eastern provinces in the country's foreign trade over the past one and a half decades. In the eastern economy, provinces like Sistan and Baluchistan, Kerman, South Khorasan, Razavi ...
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Extended Abstract
Introduction
Afghanistan's tenacity in the eastern Iranian Economy has been the re-emergence of the eastern provinces in the country's foreign trade over the past one and a half decades. In the eastern economy, provinces like Sistan and Baluchistan, Kerman, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan and North Khorasan. This research aims at to examine the position of South Khorasan in the eastern Iranian economy, by the theoretical framework of economic geography. In fact, the aim of this study is to consider the economic status of the provinces and eastern parts of Iran in the economic development and regional trade plans. Considering regional geoeconomic and geopolitical competitions in Asia and global events such as the new US sanctions, the second aim of this research is to explore the economic position of the eastern countries of Iran in economic development and regional foreign trade planning. Researchers in the fields of economics, geography and politics have not paid attention to these issues. Therefore, the main importance of the research is the attention to the significant role of South Khorasan and Afghanistan in Iran's economy, and explicating it within the framework of the new concept of the Eastern Economy. "Iran's Eastern Economy" is the new concept of this study to emphasize on the geoeconomic importance of eastern countries and provinces in the development of national economy and foreign trade of Iran. Geography of Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia are central areas of Iran's eastern economy. In this article, only Afghanistan is concerned.
The main question of this article is as follows: What are the environmental abilities of South Khorasan to expand Iran-Afghanistan economic relations? It should be said that cultural commonality and the most common border with Afghanistan, besides having border markets, proper security, and geopolitical and geostrategic status, are among the effective capabilities of the province to promote the commercial relations of the two countries. The significance of the present paper is to give an overwhelming and a transnational role to South Khorasan.
Review of Literature
Our theoretical framework is the economic geography. Economic geography is a branch of human geography that has been in place since the early twentieth century as an independent branch of geography. Subsequently, an important part of the geography was devoted to population, geography, agricultural geography, industrial geography, business geography and commerce. Scholars believe that understanding the geographic space that is influenced by human actions is mainly done through the study of economic geography, because the formation of geographic space and its consequences can be influenced by the demands for human productivity from the environment. Productivity could not be out of the reach of economic, geographical subdivisions because the subject under consideration was economic geography, forms of production, and places of consumption of all kinds of products at different levels. Therefore, most of the geographical implications of today are focused on the trades and power of different global, regional and national economic systems.
The authors of the paper have attempted to provide an overall analysis and evaluation of the content of the studies that are relevant to our discussion. A number of studies have focused on issues and micro levels of the South Khorasan economy, such as industry, markets, households, tourism, and local development. Others have focused solely on the economic capabilities of South Khorasan. The emphasis of this paper is on the transnational role and importance of the regional level of this province. Of course, the starting point for analyzing this research, like other studies, is the level of local abilities, but unlike them, it provides transnational results. Also, this research in the context of non-economic, political economy, while linking politics and economics, seeks to link these two areas with geography, security and culture.
Method
The method of analyzing the data in this paper is the causal method. In this method, the results and consequences of research data are important. Therefore, by expressing and describing the capacities of South Khorasan, they analyze their role in Iran-Afghanistan trade interactions. Afterwards, among the techniques of observation, questionnaires, interviews and data collection libraries, the recent tools such as librarianship have been used.
Results and Discussion
The main issue of this research was to study the role of the economic geography of South Khorasan on economic relations between Iran and Afghanistan. The purpose of this issue was to focus on the area of the "Eastern Regional Economy". Current and recent events in the region and the world indicate the instability of Iran's relations with the West, especially the United States. The focus of government officials on expanding and resuming relations with Western countries failed to do the expectations of the Iranian people. The dominance of the Western approach on the Eastern economics of Iran's foreign policy has a variety of reasons, including the weight of Western countries. This is important because, in some respects, the economic and political relations of the Eastern countries, including Afghanistan (at the present time) with Iran, are somehow influenced by the anti-Iranian American discourse.
According to the findings of this study, the Eastern Territory (Afghanistan and South Khorasan) can be useful in facilitating and deepening the country's regional interactions. The territory of the East (Afghanistan and South Khorasan) can be fruitful in facilitating and deepening the regional interactions of the country. Although Kabul-Tehran's economic relations are heavily influenced by the US-sponsored and US-backed discourse against Iran, inevitably Import of goods from Iran is particularly fueled for the country (Afghanistan), due to lack of proper manufacturing infrastructure, as well as increased demand for its consumer market and the existence of geographic, cultural, and convergent factors. What can make this link more robust is the role of eastern provinces, such as South Khorasan.
The political, cultural, security and geographic location of the South Khorasan is a good basis for attracting more investment from foreign countries, especially Afghanistan. The expansion of Afghan investment of 2013 So far is promising the brilliant future of this province in the economic interactions of the two countries. This is important in relation to the role of the other eastern provinces, Khorasan Razavi and Sistan and Baluchistan, in increasing the export of Iranian goods to Afghanistan.
Conclusion
To the same extent as the South Khorasan plays an important role in the relations between Iran and Afghanistan, it equally affects the process. The boost in exports to Afghanistan, in particular, the country's first target market for goods in South Khorasan, has resulted in increased revenues from the province, including taxes and customs duties. Therefore, the increase in trade between the two countries will mean the growth of southern Khorasan in the long run. On the other hand, the impact of the economic development of this province on improving the economic interactions between Iran and Afghanistan is undeniable. To achieve these goals, it is proposed that special attention be paid to eastern provinces such as South Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchistan in domestic and foreign policy making of Iran. The Iranian government should strive to expand the exchanges and rail lines of the eastern provinces with the western provinces of Afghanistan. The view of securitization to these provinces must be reduced and the economic view replaced. With economic investment in the eastern provinces, dependence of neighboring countries in the east of Iran will increase.
Mohsen Janparvar; Reyhaneh Salehabadi; zakiye Naderi Chenar
Abstract
Extended abstract
Introduction
Afghanistan is one of the neighbors that Iran can exert a great deal of influence through the use of culture and higher education. Afghanistan is Iran's cultural backyard. The linguistic, cultural and historical commonalities are so intertwined that no one can ...
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Extended abstract
Introduction
Afghanistan is one of the neighbors that Iran can exert a great deal of influence through the use of culture and higher education. Afghanistan is Iran's cultural backyard. The linguistic, cultural and historical commonalities are so intertwined that no one can fill Iran's cultural vacancy in Afghanistan. Most of Afghanistan's textbooks are in Persian. Many scientific resources used by Afghan students have been published in Iran. There is a curious desire among Afghan students to attend higher education institutions and Iranian universities. Afghan families' tendency to use Iranian radio and television products, despite the emergence of dozens of colorful radio and television broadcasters, mainly broadcasting Western or Indian films, etc. all show the importance of the cultural sphere in the relations between the two countries. Unfortunately, despite this tendency, there are many shortcomings in the field of Iranian cultural activity in Afghanistan. If Iran wants to have security, political, economic and other influence in Afghanistan, then it must pay more attention to culture and education, because Iran's relative advantage is to have a more effective presence in Afghanistan than other competitors.
Review of Literature
Education is recognized as a source of soft power that enhances productivity and the quality of the university; separates international students; and most importantly establishes relationships and collaborates between internal and external researchers. Therefore, it can be used as a tool for creating national goodwill .Soft power in higher education consists of three dimensions of values, resources and tools. Thus, soft power through higher education can be used to link the values of the host country with international students to achieve the goals appropriate to a country's policies. Interestingly, the process of internationalization in higher education can be regarded as one of the most important and key tools in soft power. This process has helped to understand the dimensions and application of soft power internationally. It looks at higher education from the four perspectives of activity, competence, ethics and process. The prospects for these activities have a cultural dimension, including the presence of international students and academics exchanges between universities. Holmes and Rumbley (2015) argue that soft power, along with public diplomacy and national security, is politically motivated, while higher education enhances the capacities available in this type of power. Improvement in the quality of higher education, the accreditation and categorization of national higher education institutions and the progress in human resource development can be motivated by social and cultural incentives to resolve global disputes, as well as to create global citizenship in order to create understanding.
Method
The present study is a descriptive-analytical one. The information required in this study is gathered (libraries and retrieval) using sources and articles on the Internet and scientific reports.
Findings and Discussion
The starting point for the two countries' engagement in 2001 is the establishment of the Afghanistan Reconstruction Partnership. Subsequently, the Afghanistan Educational and Scientific Reconstruction Staff was also formed at the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in 2002, which was directly affected the visit of Afghan Minister of Higher Education Faegh Sharif of Tehran and the signing the Academic-Educational Memorandum. Also, in 2003 President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Kabul as the first foreign leader expressed Iran's satisfaction and acceptance with the transitional government, which strengthened relations between the two countries. Following this trip, the first Joint Cooperation Commission of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was formed in 2004 and its second meeting was held in 2006. In particular, a bilateral cooperation agreement was signed between Herat Province and Khorasan Razavi Province in 2005. In 2007, due to the growing insecurity in southern Afghanistan, a security agreement was signed between Iran and Afghanistan and in 2008 a joint statement was issued at the level of the vice presidents between Afghanistan and Iran. Also in 2010, after the new Afghan presidential election, a trilateral Iran-Pakistan- Afghanistan meeting was held in Islamabad and the third meeting of the Iran-Afghanistan Joint Cooperation Commission. The first meeting of the Commission on Defense Cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan was held in 2011 and the trilateral meeting of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan was held in Trahan. The fourth joint Iran-Afghanistan Cooperation Summit was recently held in 2012, during the Governor of Balkh traveled to Khorasan Razavi. In view of the above, it can be conclude that the establishment of scientific-educational partnerships between the universities of Iran and Afghanistan within the framework of political relations between the two countries is subject to the mutual agreement of the parties to establish interactions and general relations between the two countries. This agreement is completely dependent on the political situation of the countries and the region. Prior to 2001, due to the severe political conflicts in Afghanistan, no interaction between the two countries was possible. Therefore, from a top-down and linear perspective, the political factor can be considered as an effective factor in determining the relationship between the two countries, especially between academia.
Conclusion
Based on the mutual agreements of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad with Afghan universities, the level of cooperation has exceeded the level of teacher-student exchange and has been enhanced to a high level of transboundary higher education, namely the establishment of a postgraduate course and the establishment of a university. However, the political and diplomatic relations of the two countries have been affected many of the provisions of the treaties and the parties' unwillingness to cooperate; these have led to the conclusion of contracts and the interruption or suspension of relations has led to the suspension of inter-university cooperation and the unwillingness of the parties. Despite the high capacities and potentials available for greater and better utilization, and on the other hand, the high demands of the Afghan citizens to exploit, these have not been properly utilized.
Mohsen Khalili; Sedigheh Hashemi
Abstract
Extended abstract
1. Introduction
The international coalition’s strike on Afghanistan in 2001 led to the fall of Taliban. In the Bonn conference (December 2001), it was approved to provide the background for ratifying Afghanistan’s new constitution, after organizing an urgent Loya Jirga (grand ...
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Extended abstract
1. Introduction
The international coalition’s strike on Afghanistan in 2001 led to the fall of Taliban. In the Bonn conference (December 2001), it was approved to provide the background for ratifying Afghanistan’s new constitution, after organizing an urgent Loya Jirga (grand assembly) and determining the transitional government. One of the most important actions taken following the urgent Loya Jirga in 2002 was forming a commission to draft the constitution. In general, the basic laws in constitution are formed through the consequences of a set of events: a) the gradual development of societies and the governors and civilian’s mental preparations; b) the formation of new countries; c) transformative events such as revolutions, coups and civil wars. In the latter, such countries lay out a new constitution to reorganize the nation, after the conclusion of a crisis. The formation of the new constitution in Afghanistan occurred in the same manner.
One of the components of constitutional laws is the legal form of the government in terms of internal and territorial structure, i.e. whether the physical structure of the country is simple or complex. Federal systems are a form of complex states. During the codification of the new constitution in Afghanistan, the subject of federalization of the country became the source of several reactions, for or against the decision. It seemed as if Afghanistan had a number of the necessary backgrounds for selecting the federalist method of governing; a disparate country in terms of ethnicity, race, language and religion which has been under threat. Such an approach have brought about ethnic abuses from the past to present. Perhaps federalism could have been a proper solution for resolving issues. As a result of the presence of such backgrounds, some of the elites suggested the implementation of a federal system as the commission started drafting the constitution in 2003, which led to several stances, in favor of the suggestion or rejecting it. Despite the presence of proper substrates for federalism in Afghanistan, it was not accepted in the negotiations and meetings of the experts concerning the multiple stages of codifying the constitution; consequently, the political system of Afghanistan in the new constitution remained as a unitary and simple state. The present study is aimed at obtaining the reasons behind the rejection of federalism in the codification process of Afghanistan’s constitution in 2003.
2. Theoretical Framework
Constitution is a legal document representing the public will, which states certain rules concerning the form of the government, structure of the state, authorities of governing institutions, public rights and the nation’s freedom. The government of a federal country, consists of numerous units with certain social, political, administrative and geographical identities which becomes a complex state through unity among such components. In federalism, the constitution places international functions under the exclusive authority of the central government and considers the member states subject to domestic and inevitable rights in the whole federal society. Federalism is a way of government granting partial independence to geographical divisions. Federalism can be considered as a set of ideologies, values and insights which represent a philosophy based on preserving unity in diversity. The existence of inhabitants with a variety of races, religions and languages, each bearing a history of its own, cause federalism to allow minorities govern themselves in compliance with their habits and customs extensively. Considering the fact that the policies set by the government in a multiethnic community can bring about ethnic violence in the society, some suggest a federal system as a solution for problems of this nature; they believe that through the division of power and governance, the ethnic leaders and elites’ desire for power is satisfied while the central power is no longer the only unit of governance. One of the shortcomings of federalism is the risk concerning territorial division; when loyalty to the state government reaches a point where it leads to independence from the federal state, disinterest toward such entity and the emergence of sustainable boundaries among states through racial, national, and lingual interests. In this case, due to disagreements between the state and the federal government, people would assemble under the state’s banner, putting the federal government at risk as a result. A number of reasons expressed by anti-federalists include: inefficiency (federalism cause confusion and errors in carrying out the common affairs among states), tyranny (there is a tendency to pressure minorities in local governments), higher financial costs (the financial costs of a federal government may be more than savings), reduction of the central government’s power in pursuing national purposes, decline in the possibility of distributing wealth among regions.
3. Method
Data collection was carried out according to library studies and analyzed via attributive explanation based on surveys. The hypotheses were obtained following the initial and basic studies of texts and primary accessible resources on the negotiations during the codification of the eighth constitution by the representatives along with the opinions of experts in the areas of community and policies at the same period. Then, it was attempted to analyze the major reasons for the rejection of federalism in Afghanistan’s new constitution (in the form of a compound device containing four hypotheses pursuing a single purpose). In the beginning, the research pathway was passed from texts to hypotheses and vice versa. After attaining the whole existing comments during the codification period of the constitution in disagreement with organizing a federal system in the country, it was attempted to enumerate and weigh each hypothesis. The number of the obtained comments related to each hypothesis, enumeration and the reasons for the non-acceptability of federalism were rated.
4. Findings
Employing a document analysis approach according to surveys, the authors concluded that the most important reasons for rejecting federalism during the codification of the new constitution include the possibility of division in the country, the present economic gap among states, the possibility of increasing interference by the neighbors, and the low literacy and political insecurity of the people, respectively.
