Endemic Disease in Afghanistan: How an Improved Biosecurity Framework Could Alleviate the Threat to U.S. Troops
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Andrew Hefferly
As it is currently structured, Afghanistans biosecurity framework is weak and offers little to no protection to US troops against the threat of either infectious disease outbreaks or a biological weapons attack by terrorists. If fact, the only legitimate biosecurity practice of the Afghanistan government is to respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases. Such responses are debilitated by a devastated infrastructure, harsh and often times impassable landscape, and non-compliance by Afghan citizens.5 As such, US troops (and, indeed, Afghan citizens) are left susceptible to these endemic diseases to a degree beyond their own control. I believe an alternative biosecurity framework could be implemented that would alleviate this threat.6 Because Afghanistan remains a decentralized and tribal society, the crux of this proposal is that biosecurity measures are to be reallocated to the local, tribal level. I will further expound in greater detail on the reasons for this proposal in section four below.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Volume 2 of the Journal of Biosecurity, Biosafety & Biodefense Law
- Global Biosecurity and Intelligence Challenges in Policy and Law
- Endemic Disease in Afghanistan: How an Improved Biosecurity Framework Could Alleviate the Threat to U.S. Troops
- BioIntel: Leveraging Information to Prevent Biological Weapons Attacks
- International Health and Intelligence Gathering: One in the Same or Rival Factions?
- Cold Cooperation: Biodevelopment and The Legal Landscape
- Tug of War? A Jurisdictional Analysis of WHO and Interpol
- Regulatory Frameworks in Global Biosecurity Threats to Food and Water
- Public Water Supplies in the United States and the European Union: International Security Procedures and Vulnerabilities
- International Food Regulations: Susceptibility to Deliberate Contamination
- France and a Biosecurity Perspective
- International Bioterrorism Search and Seizure Issues: A Comparative Analysis of American and French Search and Seizure Law as it Relates to the Global War on Terror
- The Plague in Modern Times and the Role of Law
- Biological Weapons Convention Perspectives in Law and Social Sciences
- The Biological Weapons Convention: Creation and Problems with Enforcement
- A Survey of Priorities and Impediments for a Biosecurity Code of Conduct as a Confidence Building Measure for the Biological Weapons and Toxins Convention
Articles in the same Issue
- Introduction: Volume 2 of the Journal of Biosecurity, Biosafety & Biodefense Law
- Global Biosecurity and Intelligence Challenges in Policy and Law
- Endemic Disease in Afghanistan: How an Improved Biosecurity Framework Could Alleviate the Threat to U.S. Troops
- BioIntel: Leveraging Information to Prevent Biological Weapons Attacks
- International Health and Intelligence Gathering: One in the Same or Rival Factions?
- Cold Cooperation: Biodevelopment and The Legal Landscape
- Tug of War? A Jurisdictional Analysis of WHO and Interpol
- Regulatory Frameworks in Global Biosecurity Threats to Food and Water
- Public Water Supplies in the United States and the European Union: International Security Procedures and Vulnerabilities
- International Food Regulations: Susceptibility to Deliberate Contamination
- France and a Biosecurity Perspective
- International Bioterrorism Search and Seizure Issues: A Comparative Analysis of American and French Search and Seizure Law as it Relates to the Global War on Terror
- The Plague in Modern Times and the Role of Law
- Biological Weapons Convention Perspectives in Law and Social Sciences
- The Biological Weapons Convention: Creation and Problems with Enforcement
- A Survey of Priorities and Impediments for a Biosecurity Code of Conduct as a Confidence Building Measure for the Biological Weapons and Toxins Convention
