Dr. Michael O’Hanlon (Brookings Institution) speaking during EFSAS Side-event/Webinar - 46th Session of UNHRC
16-03-2021, Amsterdam
Dr. Michael O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow and Director of Research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution and adjunct Professor at Columbia University and Georgetown University, spoke about the strategic implications of the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan. The withdrawal of foreign troops, Dr. O’Hanlon argued, would not end fighting in Afghanistan but would cause a drawn-out civil war. This potential trajectory would heighten inter-ethnic tensions and specifically culminate in a targeting of Afghanistan’s Pashtun populations as Pashtuns would be conflated with the Taliban and the Taliban would be able to control the southern and eastern part of Afghanistan but would lack legitimacy in the remainder of the country, in this case held by ethnic groups such as Hazaras, Tajiks and Uzbeks.
Dr. Michael O’Hanlon speaking during EFSAS Side-event/Webinar on the sidelines of 46th Session of UNHRC
