Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili

Afghanistan expert

When the Taliban retook Kabul last summer, everyone was searching for answers about why it happened. Murtazashvili, an academic and researcher with years of on-the-ground experience in Afghanistan, provided a compelling thesis: in trying to impose models of democratic engagement from the outside, the US failed to take account of local structures of accountability. Corruption and cynicism flourished— Afghans quickly realised that the flashier a new government building was, the less authority it had in reality—and the rebellion was fuelled. Her sobering analysis is found in more detail in Order and the State in Afghanistan (2016), vital reading for any occupying force contemplating nationbuilding.