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2021 Taliban Takeover: Defeat of the Afghan National Security Forces through the lens of proxy warfare theory
Bělohlávek, Dalibor ; Michálek, Luděk (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
The war in Afghanistan conflict represents the longest engagement the United States has ever been involved in, and despite significant resource allocation and loss of life, the nation-building effort eventually failed. The most salient representation of the entire Afghan experience was the rapid collapse of the Afghan National Army. Despite the years of training by the Western forces and the resources poured into it, after the United States withdrew it rapidly collapsed and was defeated by Taliban forces. This thesis aims to examine the relationship between the United States and the Afghan National Army within the context of proxy warfare theory, drawing lessons that can be applied to future conflicts of a similar nature. Firstly, this study delineates the evolving nature of 21st-century warfare and underlines why it is essential for the U.S. to acknowledge these changes, acquiring valuable insights to better navigate future challenges. To this end, the research scrutinizes the Afghan conflict, which is not typically perceived as a classic case of proxy warfare. Using the perspectives of four different proxy warfare theorists, each with distinctive approaches, common characteristics of proxy warfare are distilled and applied to analyze the case of the Afghan National Army and its relationship with...
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Impact of Portugal on the European Union Training Mission in Mozambique
Snopko, Leonard ; Doboš, Bohumil (advisor) ; Kofroň, Jan (referee)
The thesis deals with the European Union Military Training Mission (EUTM) in Mozambique, which has been operational since 2021. The EU built on the foundations of the Portuguese training mission, which started training a few months earlier. Portugal, in particular, is a long- standing partner of its former colony on the African continent, with which it has regularly updated its bilateral Defence Cooperation Framework Programme - 'Programa-Quadro' - since the Carnation Revolution. In response to the insurgency by the militant group Ansar al- Sunna wa Jama'a (ASWJ) in Mozambique's northern region, Cabo Delgado, in October 2017, Portugal explored adding a new sixth cooperation Project with Mozambique to their Framework Programme. It was to support the training and capacity-building of the Mozambique Defence Armed Forces (FADM) for counter-insurgency operations. The formalisation of this project took place in Lisbon in May 2021 with the signing of a new 'Programa-Quadro' by both the Portuguese and Mozambican Ministers of National Defence. Simultaneously, Portuguese officials took the opportunity of the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2021 to discuss the implementation of the EUTM Mozambique. It was to build on the Portuguese training mission to strengthen the FADM capabilities...
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The impact of radical Islam on the North Caucasuss insurgency movements
Časnocha, Tomáš ; Kazharski, Aliaksei (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
This master thesis examines the impact that radical Islamic ideas had on the ideological and motivational narratives of North Caucasus insurgency groups. It aims to shed light on how radical religious notions interacted with nationalistic goals of originally separatist Chechen movement and Dagestani Wahabi movement. The thesis is focusing on examining legal documents such as constitutions and its changes, presidential decrees, or news outlets. It also examines in detail considerable number of interviews given publicly by leaders of insurgencies but also by foot soldiers. The analytical segment examines in detail the political and societal development within the movements at question focusing on the role of religious ideas within these domains. Subsequent chapter provides a discussion on these findings as well as comparison of Dagestani and Chechen cases. The final segment of the thesis then provides concluding thoughts and ideas for further research in the field.
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The Roles of Foreign Fighters in Insurgencies: A Typology
Klein, Gabriel ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Laryš, Martin (referee)
The master's thesis deals with the phenomenon of foreign fighters primarily represented by contemporary jihadists. The author explores the insufficiently researched issue of participation of jihadist foreign fighters in insurgencies regarding their roles and activities in conflict zones. First, the author reviews the available academic literature on the concept of foreign fighters focusing on key definitions. Subsequently, the academic literature on seven most significant jihadist foreign-fighter mobilisations, Afghanistan (1980-1992), Bosnia (1992-1995), Somalia (1993-present), Chechnya (1994-2009), Afghanistan (2001-present), Iraq (2003-present), and Syria (2011-present), is analysed to identify patterns of similarity and difference in the jihadist foreign fighters' roles and activities. The author then introduces five distinct types of jihadist foreign fighters: 1) military and ideological leaders, field commanders; 2) foot soldiers; 3) suicide attackers; 4) support personnel; and 5) jihadist brides/wives. Each type is characterised based on the empirical evidence from the seven abovementioned cases of jihadist foreign-fighter mobilisations. Keywords Foreign Fighters, Insurgency, Jihadism, Roles, Typology Title The Roles of Foreign Fighters in Insurgencies: A Typology
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French counterinsurgency: case study of Mali
Strnad, Jan ; Karásek, Tomáš (advisor) ; Ludvík, Zdeněk (referee)
This thesis is dedicated to French intervention in Mali between the years 2013 and 2022. Insurgency in Mali led to the deployment of French forces in Operation Serval from 2013 to 2014. However, because of the unstable situation was French presence in Mali prolonged, and Operation Serval was succeeded by Operation Barkhane. In this case is tested claim of a group of authors that French counterinsurgency became similar to the US counterinsurgency after their cooperation in Afghanistan. In order to answer the research question Has French counterinsurgency become similar to the US counterinsurgency? by proving/disproving settled hypothesis are conducted qualitative analyses of Operations Serval and Barkhane. The theoretical framework is provided by the concept of Counterinsurgency's Impossible Trilemma by Lorenzo Zambernardi. The results of both analyses and thus the overall result is disproval of the hypothesis because the French nature of counterinsurgency has not changed, however, the writing of current French doctrine was inspired by the US counterinsurgency doctrine.
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Support for Insurgents as the Tool of the State Foregn Policy
Bahenský, Vojtěch ; Riegl, Martin (advisor) ; Kofroň, Jan (referee)
The primary concern of this thesis is the question, what risks and costs are associated with using support for insurgent groups as an instrument of state foreign policy. It attempts to connect various contemporary concepts and approaches and presents the concept of risks and costs based on existing literature. It offers examples of possible application of such concept, which simultaneously reveal insufficient theoretical understanding of other aspects of support for insurgent movements. These are inappropriately formulated for their use in the study of impacts of the support for insurgents on the supporting state. In conclusion the thesis offers several areas for future research that would help to address these shortages of contemporary literature.
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Dagestan as a possible destabilising element in the internal politics of the Russian Federation
Motúzová, Diana ; Horák, Slavomír (advisor) ; Aslan, Emil (referee)
This bachelor thesis analyses the situation in Dagestan as well as its destabilising potential influencing not only life in this republic and the North Caucasus region, but also the whole internal politics of the Russian Federation. An examined area includes political, social, economic and religious aspects of processes inside the Dagestani society. The aim of this thesis is to find out on the basis of analysis of the given spheres, whether Dagestan becomes an unavoidable destabilising element in the domestic political constellation of Russia. In the first chapter, the role of ethnic and religious identity as well as the social conservatism is analysed as a possible factor of conflict. In the second chapter, the thesis is focused on comparison between political situation in the era of consociationalism and the period since the introduction of centralistic reforms. The third chapter examines the Islamic radicalism in the society as well as the reasons for and the consequences of this phenomenon. Subsequently, the thesis discusses socioeconomic problems and the question of regulation of land relations in the society. The last chapter examines the influence of stances of the federal centre and the ethnically Russian population towards Dagestanis on the security situation in the republic and its...
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Jihadisation of Insurgencies: A Corollary of Civil Wars
Anand, Nayan ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Ditrych, Ondřej (referee)
Large scale destruction and surfeit chaos that accompany civil wars have provided a platform to several insurgencies operating in the setting to compete in a struggle for increased power and territorial occupation against their depraved regimes and each other. It is during this power struggle that several insurgencies make a jump from a purely nationalistic agenda of the civil war to a larger religious goal by complying with jihadist organisations thriving in the region. Although the topic of civil war and religious radicalisation has been on the international agenda as well as the academic community for many years now, proselytizing and hijacking of national agenda of insurgencies by religious extremists is also of growing concern. Thus, this research will seek to find if jihadisation of insurgencies is a direct consequence of civil wars by using the Afghanistan and the Syrian Civil wars as case studies. The approach adopted here is to dwell into the factors behind the adoption of jihadist ideologies by insurgencies in war zones. These factors would then be applied to both the case studies. The paper will incorporate insights from previous qualitative studies conducted on geo-referenced terror, the role of religion, and ideologies in civil wars in the aforementioned countries to arrive at the...
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Analysis of ISIS's Insurgency through the theory of Revolutionary Warfare
Piunti, Amerigo ; Aslan, Emil (advisor) ; Bureš, Oldřich (referee)
Analysis of ISIS's Insurgency through the theory of Revolutionary Warfare, by Amerigo Piunti. Ever since the collapse of the brutal Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein, the Sunnis of Iraq were struggling as a minority in a nation governed by Shia. The government of Baghdad was constantly ignoring Sunni's grievances, and for many experts, this aspect was a driving point that led to the establishment of the IS Caliphate. Contrary to popular belief, the so-called Islamic State appeared only for the first time in October 2006. Abū Musʿab al-Zarqāwī was the founder and first tenacious leader of the special detachment called "Al-Qaeda in Iraq." This group later on mutated itself into the notorious Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and it obtained support from international sympathizers and local citizens. The terror group successfully recruited local tribes, experienced fighters and leaders, previous members of the Baathist regime, and it even cooperated with other Jihadists groups. The terror group itself also heavily relied on the spread of Jihadist-Salafist propaganda and eventually created an urgent need for a drastic change in society. The group then expanded its insurgency activities towards Syria, and after only eight years of fighting, it successfully covered each of the necessary stages to...
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Examining the Growth of Private Military Contractors and their Applications in State Stability in Latin America
Austman, Connor ; Kučera, Tomáš (advisor) ; Bureš, Oldřich (referee)
Private military companies have rapidly filled in many operational force capacities that national militaries now longer have the capabilities to fill natively. As such, PMCs have expanded their rosters as well as their services provided to fill in many roles, and have carried out many such roles such as logistics management, personal and site security, and some inherently state functions such as training indigenous security forces and interrogation of prisoners. This rise has impacted national militaries in many facets of their operations and abstract professional bases. The ability of the PMC to carry out operations at the same standard as regular soldiers but with higher pay has impacted how the regular soldier views their own place in the professional national military, and creates problems for the establishment as a whole. This thesis will discuss the Iraq War as a case study and the impact of PMCs on the war, as well as introduce the Huntingtonian theories of soldier professionalism and corporateness, and will also employ a critical Marxist perspective to analyse the role and impact of PMCs in the modern military convention and in civil-military relations.
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