International Seminar “Peace and Stability in Afghanistan and the Region” held in Kabul
By: Hekmatullah Zaland
Center for Strategic and Regional Studies (CSRS) arranged a one-day international seminar on “Peace and Stability in Afghanistan and Region” in Kabul. The seminar focused on and analyzed the current threats and opportunities to the peace and security in Afghanistan and the region. The one-day seminar held on Thursday, February 13, 2014 in Kabul Intercontinental Hotel was attended by various political figures, intellectuals, analysts, media persons and representatives from foreign political representations and embassies in Kabul. The seminar also had guest political analysts from Tajikistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkey.
Yakasha Kabirov, Janatullah Kamil and Askar Ali attended the seminar representing Tajikistan’s Eurasian Dialogue Center, Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Khalil, Alamgir Afridi and Mushtaq Ahmed attended the seminar from Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) of Pakistan and also a number of representatives of Iran’s Andisheh Sazan-e Noor Studies Institute attended the seminar.
The Director of CSRS, Associate Professor Dr. Abdul Baqi Amin in his opening speech declared the objective of the seminar as un-biased analysis of threats and opportunities facing peace and stability in Afghanistan and the region.
The seminar participants during their speeches and delivering written analysis concluded that the foreign military interventions in Afghanistan have always proved destructive and declared that for the success of peace process there is a huge need for a third-party negotiator.
Seminar Opening Session
During the opening session of the seminar which started at 9:30 AM the director of CSRS said, “Peace is the biggest necessity of Afghanistan. Rights, independence, development, good governance, accountability and transparency can be talked about when there is peace and security in the country.” He also said that Afghanistan’s past civil war have proven that force policies and attempts to put down others are failed and brings additional disasters to the society; we should learn from the past and accept each other and start understanding and negotiations and all conflict sides should get together and search ways to end the decades-long war. Mr. Amin said that peace is not only a necessity of Afghanistan but of whole region. The insecurity and instability in Afghanistan spreads to the countries of region and affects them, we can consider insecurity and smuggling of narcotics as one of its effects.
In his speech Mr. Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, Director of Central Council, Afghan Society for Social Reforms and Development (ASSRD) not only considered peace a necessity but also the right of nations and called on Afghanistan government and political and armed opposition to search for a better way in order to bring peace. He said, “As the countries of the region can interfere in insecurity of Afghanistan, they can play a vital role in security and stability; we hope that the region will fulfill their responsibility so that a lasting peace can come in Afghanistan and the region”
Renowned political figure and representative of Hizb-I Islami Maulavi Janbaz Sarfaraz during his speech pointed to the necessity of peace and said that the ongoing crisis cannot come to an end by hopes and wishes rather capable persons and Islamic scholars should do practical efforts. He considered the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan as totally destructive and said that Hamid Karzai’s current stance is supported by the entire nation. He suggested that in order to bringing real peace in Afghanistan there is immediate need for an impartial third-party so that all parties involved in the conflict can trust them and they can impose their decisions on all.
Speaker of Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) and peoples’ representative from Kunar province in National Assembly’s lower house, Maulavi Shahzada Shahid considered United States as the biggest motive in Afghanistan’s problem and its arrogant actions the reason for insecurity. He considered US calls for peace as counterfeit and said, if US really calls for democracy why was an elected government in Egypt overthrown in a coup d’état by their signal. Maulavi Shahzada said, “Afghan nation does not want US military presence in Afghanistan and those who want them, they in reality do not want peace here.”
Politician and academician Dr. Farooq Azam said that Afghanistan’s problem has three dimensions the internal, regional and international. In his words, if Afghans had wisdom, Afghanistan would not have been occupied by Soviet Union and the United States. The Afghan government still sees it’s good in continuity of war and do not want to bring peace. Dr. Azam said, “Our neighbors have also prepared means for insecurity in Afghanistan and played a big role in destabilizing it, now there is need for people on the national level who should honestly work for peace.”
Afghanistan’s former Minister of Justice and diplomat Mr. Abdul Rahim Abas Karimi pointed to the Islamic side of the conflict and said, “We are not following Qur’an therefore we are in these circumstances, foreigns cannot bring peace to us and the presence of foreign troops and Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) cannot solve our problem.”
First Specialized Session of the Seminar:
In the first specialized session of the seminar which was devoted to articles and essays about challenges and opportunities to peace in Afghanistan and region, Dr. Fazal Hadi Wazin, Member of Academic Board of CSRS and Professor in Salam University talked about foundations of stability and peace and causes of instability in Afghanistan, he also shed light on internal and external causes of stability and instability in Afghanistan and region through delivering his article. Mr. Wazin said, “In order to stabilize Afghanistan, the withdrawal of foreign troops, paving way for real inter-Afghan understanding and ceasefire are the necessary measures that should be taken.”
CSRS Director Dr. Abdul Baqi Amin also presented his article which analyzed obstacles to peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said, “Lack of agreement between the citizens about national consensus, presence of foreign troops, existence of war-benefiting sides and individuals, some of the conditions set by government to armed opposition, armed opposition’s concept of lonely governing, lack of an effective civil movement and finally lack of a mediator group for peace are all the obstacle to peace and stability in Afghanistan.”
Dr. Misbahullah Abdulbaqi, Deputy Dean of Salam University and CSRS Academic Board Member, highlighted the existing opportunities for peace and security in details. He said, “The strong feeling of ending the war with most of Afghans, the government’s recent position is indicative of willingness to bring peace, changes in the point of view of armed opposition, changes in the stand of political parties involved in current politics, willingness of US and its allys for peace talks instead of war, due to some reasons the willingness of neighbor countries to finish the insecurity, the presence of some neutral and goodhearted individuals in the country and the developing trust for peace are some of the opportunities that exist.”
The editor-in-chief of Wesa Daily Mohammad Zubair Shafiqi evaluated the effects of instability in Afghanistan on the region and Afghanistan itself. He said, “The insecurity in Afghanistan started back in 1978 and is still continuing; the United States laid the foundation of new weak Afghanistan government so that it will always remain indigent to them.” He further added, “US wants to control the entire region by its presence, they have confined China and Russia in their regions, also the wrong policies and decisions of the US has increased insecurity in Iraq and Afghanistan to its peaks, in Iraq the intelligence and paramilitary organizations such as Black Water oppressed people and in Afghanistan the US Special Forces did.” He discussed numerous damages caused to the region due to instability in Afghanistan and also cautioned of future threats to the region due to instability in Afghanistan.
The first specialized session ended with the participants question and answer session and they also had chance to express their insights on the issues.
Second Specialized Session of the Seminar
The second specialized session was allocated to guests from neighbor and regional countries; Dr. Mohammad Iqbal Khalil, Member of Academic Board of Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) presented his article regarding role of regional countries in stabilizing Afghanistan. Pointing to the strategic location of Afghanistan and mentioning some of its historic phases he said Iran, Turkey, India, Pakistan and central Asian republics has deep links with Afghanistan and there are various opportunities for them to help Afghanistan bring peace and stability. Mr. Khalil added, looking to the commonalities between the nations of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Pakistan nation has always attempted to help Afghans and Afghanistan and opposed to all kinds of Pakistan interference in it’s internal affairs; but he also pointed to the Pakistan past governments specifically the military governments wrongdoings and said that the Pakistan nation was not happy with that.
Next, Mr. Yakasha Kabirov representing Tajikistan’s Eurasian Dialogue Center presented his analysis focused on Afghanistan conflict, and roles of neighbor and regional countries. He mentioned the peace talks between Tajikistan government and armed groups, due to which some changes were brought in constitution and way for peace was paved and as a result Tajikistan turned into a peaceful country; In Afghanistan the obstacles to peace should be removed as well and some concession should be made in the stances.
The next speaker was Wahid Muzhda, an Afghan author and political analyst who presented his analysis which was focused on “Afghanistan and Challenges to the region”. He talked about the post-Jihad and soviet defeat period in Afghanistan and the establishment of Taliban movement during civil war. He said that the Taliban movement was not a foreign project rather it came to existence when brining peace became impossible. He added that bringing peace doesn’t mean to finish the opponent sides, but to remove the obstacles to peace. Mr. Muzhda regarded the presence of foreign troops the main reason behind insecurity in Afghanistan and added, if foreign troops leave the country the way for inter-Afghan peace would be paved; but in presence of foreign troops peace is impossible, because the coalition forces couldn’t bring peace with the help of more than a hundred thousand-strong force. So would it be possible only by a ten thousand troops?
The end of Seminar
After question and answer session and time for views of participants the summary of seminar was presented by Director of CSRS Dr. Abdul Baqi Amin. He said that the orators’ speeches about Afghanistan’s peace and stability have noted a number of obstacles of which the biggest is the presence of foreign troops. He said, it is now also apparent that in order to bring peace there is a need for mediator party and if there are true endeavors there are many opportunities for peace, and besides it is also clear from the speeches of our guests that the peace in Afghanistan is also very beneficial to the countries of the region. He also said that the similar strategic and research centers are capable to convince the decision-making sides through their analysis and recommendations that the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan is destructive and futile to the country, region and even the world security and their withdrawal is beneficial to all.
Dr. Amin added that Center for Strategic and Regional Studies (CSRS) endeavors to clarify future-building realities of the country through strategic and academic analysis and negotiations and provide constructive suggestions for the politics of country and region. He on behalf of CSRS showed readiness to organize continuous analysis sessions and dialogues for peace and stability so that all the involved parties are convinced that there should be genuine efforts to bring peace.
The one-day international seminar continued until 4:30 PM and all national and international participants discussed the peace and stability in Afghanistan in deep and multilateral ways and proposed solutions to the challenges in order to overcome them.
It’s worth mentioning that the articles presented and discussions held during the seminar will be will be printed in a booklet by CSRS in near future.
Center for Strategic and Regional Studies (CSRS) being an independent and impartial organization was found in July, 2009. In order to bring peace and stability CSRS continuously tries to contact various parties, arrange academic seminars and workshops and contacts regional countries’ strategic studies institutes to attract their help and play a constructive role to end the current crisis in Afghanistan.