Jul 12, 2009

Mr. Saifullah Ahmadzai, Senior Research Analyst, and Mr. Hyder Akbar, Research Analyst, participated in a Regional Network of Strategic Studies Center (RNSSC) conference from 22-24 June, 2009, hosted by the RegionalCenter for Strategic Studies (RCSS) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The ongoing participation of CAPS is part of the RNSSC’s program to have research centres from the Near East and South Asia to work on the important issues facing their region.

 During the meeting in Colombo, the two working groups that participated were The Non-Traditional Security Issues (NTSI) and Weapons of Mass Destructions and Border Security (WMD). Mr. Ahmadzai actively participated in the NTSI working group meeting, where the two main issues that were discussed were small arms and light weapons as well as disaster management. Mr. Ahmadzai talked about his case study on small arms and light weapons in Afghanistan and delivered a presentation on this topic.

 Mr. Akbar participated in the WMD group where representatives from different organizations gave reports about their border security and there were discussions about nuclear energy and confidence building measures. On the topic of border security, Mr. Akbar presented on the border situation in Afghanistan with a particular focus on the Af-Pak area. He also presented on Nuclear Terrorism and Afghanistan, in which he discussed the pursuit of nuclear weapons by groups like Al-Qaeda and their use of Afghanistan as a base.