jan 15, 2011

On 9th January 2010, Centre for Conflict
& Peace Studies (CAPS) hosted His Excellency Australian Ambassador to Afghanistan, Mr. Paul Foley who was accompanied by his first Political Secretary, Catriona Ockwell.

The Director of CAPS, Mr. Hekmat Karzai, welcomed both His Excellency and his First Secretary to the centre and a CAPS research analyst provided a brief introduction from his staff. After the introduction Mr. Karzai took briefed Ambassador Foley on the centre’s vision and activities that include three key pillars of study.

After describing CAPS research department, Mr. Karzai went onto describing CAPS legal program and the many initiatives they are currently undertaking such as providing legal aid to detainees and security prisoners and advocating a system to protect their civil rights. In addition, Mr. Karzai mentioned that CAPS supported the Afghan government in its reconciliation imitative by providing extensive analysis and research that help the government in addressing the many obstacles for peace.  Having that said, Ambassador Foley expressed his gratitude to the team at CAPS for their hospitality and for the presentation on CAPS’ activities in which he showed much interest.

Mr Karzai also expressed his gratitude to Ambassador Paul Foley and Catriona Ockwell for visiting CAPS and addressed CAPS’s capacities of offering fellowships for PHD candidates and researchers that were interested in gaining a ground perspective on the issues affecting Afghanistan and the region.