Mangalore, August 25, 2012: Mangaloreans are proving their mettle at national and international levels. If Aravind Adiga brought fame to the city through his Booker winning “The White Tiger”, another personality from Mangalore, too has brought laurels to her hometown through her commendable achievements. She is Dr Shanthie Mariet D’Souza whose book “Afghanistan in Transition: Beyond 2014?,” was released recently. The Book is a valuable contribution to the academic and policy discourse on the prospects of effective transition and long-term stabilization of Afghanistan.
Presently a research fellow at Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore, Dr. D’Souza is an alumnus of School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya, where she did her BA in psychology, English literature, and criminology.
She then secured Ph.D in international relations, American studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi. She is a visiting Fullbright scholar at South Asia Studies, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Dr. D’Souza has authored several books apart from articles which have been featured in magazines and journals. Her area of interest is Afghan insurgency and the counter insurgency campaigns. She has also conducted a number of studies in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir, and North East India. She has also travelled to Afghanistan to do research for her book.
Books ‘Saving Afghanistan (2009)’ and ‘Perspectives on South Asian Security,’ have been edited by her. She has also presented and published papers titled ‘Talking to the Taliban’,‘Taking Stock of the Global War on Terrorism,’, ‘India Afghan Relations,’ Mumbai Terror Attacks, etc.
Afghanistan is a victim of US and USSR. Many others joined with them to loot and drain the country. Local war lords were used to settle score. Taliban is a brain child of CIA.