Noref Report 5 - Afghanistan: How Can Norway Contribute to a Long-Term Regional Peace Strategy?
16 April 2009
Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre (Noref). 14 pages. Noref reports.
Summary of Noref-MFA seminar discussion on Afghanistan
The four-hour discussion considered the following topics:
- The regional dimension of the Afghan crisis;
- The nature of the Afghan state and its waning credibility;
- The importance of an “Afghanization” of the conflict and the need for furthering a locally-based process for security, state and institution building, and socio-economic development;
- The nature of the insurgency, the Taliban and al Qaeda;
- The challenges to NATO, ISAF, and the various international actors and missions in Afghanistan, including an analysis of past errors and shortcomings;
- The need for a more robust diplomatic effort on the part of the international community
- The issues surrounding regional involvement including the feasibility of a contact group of adjacent or neighboring countries to focus on solutions in Afghanistan;
- The key role of Pakistan in the Afghan conflict as potential destabilizer or stabilizer of Afghanistan.
The above issues were discussed in terms both of analyzing the current situation and suggesting approaches to improve the situation in 2009 –for Afghanistan, the international community and for the Norwegian mission.
