Path Dependency and the International Conferences on Afghanistan: From Bonn 2001 to Kabul 2010

Abstract

This thesis presents a picture from Afghanistan in the post 9/11 era. It is focused primarily on international conferences on Afghanistan from Bonn 2001 to Kabul 2010. As far as Conference Diplomacy remains the key politics for inviting attention of international and regional players to take part in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, its importance goes beyond that in practice, as these conferences have had intensive Afghanistan focused agenda and mostly concentrated on presentation of the country, development process, fund raising, policy debate on security, narcotics and economic development among other areas. Simply put, the conferences have given an inclusive image of a decade-long effort in Afghanistan. To realize this research, the theory of ‘Path Dependency Theory’ has been used as the key analytical foundations of this thesis. This theory will show the logic and analytical connection between the Bonn 2001 as a starting point and the Kabul 2010 as an ultimate ending point.