CAPS Hosts Mr. David H. Rank, Political Counsellor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan

On 3 October 2011, Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) hosted Mr. Rank and small delegation of US Embassy staff at CAPS headquarters in Kabul. The meeting began with the Director of CAPS’s, Mr. Hekmat Karzai, introducing CAPS vision since its establishment in 2006.Following,Mr. Halimullah Kousary, Deputy Head of Research at CAPS,gave a presentation on CAPS background and central activities as well as ongoing projects that are being implemented in Kabul and other provinces.

After the presentation, Mr.Karzai gave a better perspective of CAPS training programs for diplomatic and military personnel to have a better understanding of the culture, tradition, religion, social and political environment of Afghanistan. During the meeting, conversation turned to the topics of the post-Rabbani peace process, good governance, and the progress on the negotiation strategic partnership between Afghanistan and U.S. Additionally, Mr. Rank thanked CAPS and Mr. Karzai for his hospitality and expressed great interest in the CAPS training programs for U.S. Embassy staff. Many areas of collaborationwere identified, paving the way for closer ties between CAPS and the U.S. Embassy.