1 Opponent Review of Doctoral Dissertation
Title: Post-2001 Afghanistan: a Critical Analysis of the US WoT and State-building Discourse(s)
Dissertant: Pamir Halimzai
Institution: Vysoká Škola ekonomická v Praze, Fakulta mezinárodních vztahů Supervisor: Doc. PhDr. Jan Eichler, CSc.
Opponent: Prof. PhDr. Miroslav KRČ, CSc. Faculty of Military Leadership, University of Defence, Kounicova 65, 662 10 Brno
Introduction
The presented dissertation for its defence is a discourse on the war on terror and the building of security in Afghanistan under three American presidents since 2001. The assignment, the chosen methodology of the doctoral dissertation, and its development meet the substantive and formal requirements for a dissertation. The chosen methods and procedures and the solutions are standard. The actual text of the dissertation is presented on 216 pages and includes 3 appendices, 2 graphs, 3 tables and 2 Timelines. The literature used is listed on 14 pages.
The thesis sets out a theoretical and methodological outline to offer a critical and alternative understanding of US WoT and discourses of state-building and security in Afghanistan. The thesis adopts a rationalist approach to understanding and analysing global political area and time in the context of Afghanistan. The methodology employed brings to the fore the use of an anti-positivist and reflexive strategy to assess developments in Afghanistan. The doctoral student has correctly captured that the post 9/11 world has led to remarkable changes in the international order. The dissertation provides an understanding of the complex changes and transformations in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001.
In particular, the amount of literature studied and its precise processing, the doctoral student demonstrated the ability to work creatively, to orient himself in the problem solved, the ability to process the information obtained and to lead the discourse. Thus, the discourse takes place and has a visible, tangible existence and effects.
Relevance of the issue
2 The dissertation addresses a very broad issue related to the history and contemporary
development of Afghanistan. The field of foreign affairs affecting domestic politics and security policy in general is one of the rapidly developing areas affecting the life of this society. This area has far-reaching synergistic effects not only on the actors but on the state where they are implemented.
The issue here is an essential part of the current mainstream and is therefore topical in view of the often uncontrolled and ill-advised growing global actions of terrorism. The factors
determining political and economic development are determined by the causality of war and democracy. I argue that the causality of both elements has substantial, and in some ways existential, significance for the further development and direction of the structuring of security in society, and not only in the context of Afghanistan.
The justification in the present dissertation is not based on economic aspects, but on a historicizing conception and political science explanation of development. The political science explanation of the development is accompanied by an analysis of international events based on the study of primary but mainly secondary sources. In this thesis, the author's attempt is made to construct a trend of development after 2001 during the period of three American presidents. The use of qualitative-interpretive methodology predominates in the work. The search for causal mechanisms is suppressed. It is a fact that the restriction of the search for causal mechanisms, limits the subjectivism of the author's views. As an opponent on this doctoral dissertation, I find in the timeline view in two places (p. 67,125) his positions based on his conception of the discourse on WoT. I appreciate that the PhD student relies on authorities, also primary, but more on secondary literature.
Formulation of the initial research task
I appreciate the author's introduction of the DDP: The first and most important limitation of this thesis is that it does not offer a comprehensive study of state-building in post-2001 Afghanistan. It attempts to show the limitations of WoT. The central theme of the dissertation is to read, understand, problematise and critically define the US discourse (and practice) on WoT and Afghan state building, which is precisely security, democracy building and to some extent economic development in the country. The position the author takes is based on positive logicism. The author's thesis is based on several research questions based on WoT which is dominant for Afghanistan. To this end, the dissertation asks interrelated questions:
1st How did G. W. Bush shape and transform his WoT discourse into a dominant one in
3 Afghanistan? Why is it important to reinterpret his discourse almost two decades after 9/11?
2nd How have discourses of WoT and state-building under three US presidents been shaped, organized, and operationalized in post-2001 Afghanistan? 3rd What are the implications of WoT and state-building discourses for Afghanistan and beyond?
The dissertation concludes that the US discourse has not achieved its stated goal of defeating terrorism and rebuilding a liberated, democratic Afghanistan, but has led to the further entrapment of the Afghan state. To do so, the PhD student develops the Foucault-inspired concept of the politics of imprisonment and asks another, equally important research question:
4th In what ways are US WoT and state-building discourses representative of the broader depoliticization of society and how have they set the stage for illiberal, repressive politics of containment and necro politics? The research questions underlie the entire structure of the dissertation as well as the establishment of subsidiary objectives. The text of the dissertation is supplemented with tables, graphs, and a timeline, that contributes to the clarity of this doctoral dissertation.
The objective of the doctoral thesis and its fulfilment
The research objectives and follow-up steps in the dissertation are detailed in the first chapter.
With an eye to a wide range of events and regions, this dissertation focuses on the discourse(s) of the war on terror and state-building in post-2001 Afghanistan.
The research questions are elaborated in each region. Based on a detailed study and I can conclude that such a broad targeting enabled, capture the issues at hand. The thesis explicitly points to a broad-based approach to building Afghanistan.
The thesis consists of four parts, these form a logical whole. The thesis is balanced in both the theoretical and practical readings and these two parts are balanced with each other as well.
The theoretical part of the thesis is divided into sub-chapters which form the basis for the practical part of the thesis. The theoretical part is a compilation of theoretical knowledge and background. From this perspective, it is a philosophical-methodological chapter.
In the first part of the thesis the philosophical-methodological background is defined. Here the author already makes it clear that the research of his thesis will be qualitative in nature, but he has also used the necessary quantitative characteristics to explain and understand it.
The thesis makes very good use of the temporal aspect in the discursive analysis. The author describes the dimensions of Foucaultian discursive analysis. I appreciate the use of discursive
4 analysis in this thesis. The whole dissertation is approached using constructivism but leans more towards a poststructuralist perspective, I consider this to be a contribution of the PhD student in addressing this issue. The stated aim of the thesis is fulfilled.
Conclusion
In this thesis, the author concludes, with the help of critical reinterpretation and reflexive analysis of WoT discourses in the US and state building, that the global WoT discourse has changed the ways in which wars are fought and security is practiced in the 21st century.
Building on Foucaultian and poststructuralist work on power, the doctoral concept of a biopower is introduced. He pointed to new ways of fighting and practicing security. This allowed the dissertation to give an answer to the question as well: How the rise of a biopower is changing future security practice. He concludes that there is a period of state building with more repressive implications for the Afghan state and the emerging reality of future security practices. He concludes that the rationalist construction of Afghanistan, as a problem, is unstable, inconsistent, paradoxical, and full of inconsistencies. Using the theoretical and methodological approaches of a Foucauldian poststructuralist and critical analysis, it develops the three US presidents' discourses on WoT and state-building, tracing their rationalist
formation and domination. It reinterprets them and offers an alternative view of their wide- ranging implications for Afghanistan.
The PhD student concludes that the speeches of the three US presidents - Bush, Obama, and Trump - complement each other. Bush's discourse on WoT does not represent the rhetoric of crime but is embedded in a broader political discourse. Drawing on Nietzschean and
Foucauldian insights, he contextualizes the discourse on evil and good, demonstrating how polarization is part of a broader process of depoliticization. He argues that the most important consequence of the depoliticization of WoT in Afghanistan is the politics of imprisonment.
The dissertation does not provide a blueprint for addressing the problems of conflict and state- building in Afghanistan. It reveals the complexity of Afghanistan, the current discourses, and practices of state-building, and the illiberalizing and repressive effects of discourses in the US.
Mr. Pamir Halimzai has demonstrated in his doctoral dissertation the ability to analyse the various processes in international relations using scientific methods, drawing appropriate conclusions. He has demonstrated the ability to critically analyse and bring new scientific knowledge that contributes to the understanding of the development of contemporary
5 international relations using Afghanistan as an example. The author's own contribution, based on authentic research activity, lies in defining new ways of dealing with WoT in the Afghan context. This in turn contributes to the search for new ways of building security.
I recommend this doctoral dissertation to be defended in front of a committee.
In Brno, June 6th, 2021 Prof. PhDr. Miroslav Krč, CSc.
