Jan 04, 2011

The Director of CAPS, Mr.Hekmat Karzai,
attended the 4th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and Near East & South Asia (NDU – USA) conference on Islam, Politics and Security in South Asia.  The event was held on the 6th, 7th and 8th of December 2010 at the Al Bustan Palace in Muscat, Oman.

Participants were policy makers, practitioners, security experts and academics from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan and included: Ali Ahmad Jalali, former Interior Minister of Afghanistan, Mr. Amrullah Saleh, former Director General, National Directorate of Security and Dr. Sima Samar, Chairperson Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, Ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya, Ambassador of India to Afghanistan, M J Akbar, Editorial Director, India Today, Amb Maleeha Lodhi, former Pakistani Ambassador to US, former High Commissioner to the UK and Rahimullah Yusufzai, Executive Editor, Peshawar, The News.

Some of the key issues debated were: Preventing Terror: Education and Strategic Communication, Fighting Terror: Assessing the Future of Non-State Armed Groups, Cooperating on Terror Investigations: Role of Law Enforcement Agencies.  In additional, there was a day devoted to the debate on Afghanistan with discussion on: Assessing Western Strategies in Afghanistan, Role of Key Regional Stakeholders for Afghanistan’s Future and Bridging Western and Regional Perspective: Challenges and Opportunities.

Mr. Karzai spoke in the last panel on Afghanistan and stated that “a political process, which brings about relative stability, is the only way forward for Afghanistan and it is this engagement followed by an economic development that can bridge the various regional and western perspectives in the long run.”

Mr. Karzai highlighted the urgent need for a political process and also identified five fundamental pillars for a peace process.  In his concluding remarks, he stress that “Afghans have learned from their experiences of the last nine years in which military efforts to stabilize Afghanistan have not produced substantial results.  Casualties have been systematically increasing and this summer was far the most violent since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001.  At this crucial stage, Afghans have come to the belief that the only possible solution to the bloody conflict is a political settlement with the anti-government elements, through the process of reconciliation.”