Dec 02, 2009

From October 27th till the 29th of November, Mr. Hekmat Karzai, Director of CAPS participated in the Ninth Biannual Symposium of the Council for Asian Terrorism Research (CATR) in Seoul, Korea.  The objective of the event was to collectively discuss Threats Assessments of the Countries in the Region. Over 15 countries including Pakistan, India, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia were represented in the symposium.

Mr. Karzai represented Afghanistan and presented a paper titled: Emerging Threat and Challenges in Afghanistan. Mr. Karzai not only assessed traditional threats but also non-traditional threats including:

1.Threats from ungoverned Areas 2.Environmental Challenges 3.Health 4.Socio-political
Unrest 5.Weapons Proliferation 6.Migration and Refugees 7.Drug Trafficking 8.Rule of Law 9.Organized Crime 10.Terrorism and Insurgency.

Mr. Karzai in his conclusion mentioned that the Afghan government, with the support of the international community, needs to take the traditional and non-traditional threats seriously since it has direct impact over security and development.

During the visit, Mr. Karzai met with South Korean officials and briefed them on the security situation.  He also visited the DMZ and took a tour one of the tunnels that was dug in the 1970’s by the North Koreans in an effort to attack the South.

South Korea will be sending several hundred soldiers to Afghanistan in the immediate future.