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Text Box: Kabul Center for Strategic Studies

Afghanistan’s leading source of strategic research and policy analysis

Text Box: A Message from Kabul Center’s CEO and founder, Waliullah Rahmani Kabul Center for Strategic Studies was founded by Afghans in 2007 and is dedicated to building democracy in Afghanistan. The Center’s goal is to erect a state that will guarantee the rights and liberties of all Afghan citizens. Afghans face the challenge of having to build a modern and just nation out of a country devastated by decades of foreign invasions, civil war and chaos. Our foreign friends helped liberate us and helped us design the basic structure of a democratic governance but the only way Afghanistan will become a truly sustainable democratic state in its own right is to make sure that Afghans develop the necessary skills to manage the basic building blocks. We at Kabul Center believe that the best way the international community can help us now is to help us develop our domestic capability. By employing Afghan researchers and consultants to formulate policies and develop strategies, you can help Afghans improve the skills they will need to have when the international community goes home. The sooner Afghans develop the expertise they need to run the country, the better it will be for everyone. Afghanistan should never again descend into the state of chaos it did in the 1990s, when Afghans were so frustrated by their situation that they actually welcomed a totalitarian regime in the hopes it would bring relief from the rule of warlords. We Afghans are the last people on Earth who want our nation to once again devolve back into being the official terrorist haven it became then. Because we want to avoid that possibility we founded this Center.

Text Box: Kabul Direct Kabul Center is the publisher of Afghanistan’s first English‐language publication produced and directed by Afghans and targeted to the specialist following events in Afghanistan closely. Click on the icon below or the link above.

Text Box: Kabul Center advisor Minister Hamidullah Farooqi receives vote of confidence in parliament Mar 16, 2009-Kabul-Kabul Center for Strategic Studies Advisory Board member Hamidullah Farooqi received a vote of confidence in Parliament and can now assume his cabinet position as Minister of Transportation and Civil Aviation Kabul Center congratulates Minister Farooqi for his accomplishment and the great honor that President Karzai and the Afghan parliament have bestowed upon him. ——————————————————————— President Karzai names Kabul Center advisor Hamidullah Farooqi to act as Minister of Transportation and Civil Aviation Mar 9, 2009-Kabul-Kabul Center for Strategic Studies is pleased to announce that Advisory Board member Hamidullah Farooqi was named acting Minister of Transportation and Civil Aviation by President Karzai. Mr. Farooqi, a professor of economics at Kabul University, is a member of Kabul Chamber of Commerce and Industries, a board member of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and previously served as CEO of Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Farooqi has a Masters of Economics from New York University and has served as on Kabul Center’s Advisory Board since the organization’s inception in 2007. ——————————————————————— Kabul Center advisor Ali Jalali speaks at Council on Foreign Relations Symposium Feb 26, 2009-Washington, DC-Kabul Center for Strategic Studies’ advisor Ali Jalali, former Interior Minister, participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on NATO and Afghanistan. Other speakers included former UN Undersecretary-General for Peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno; and Barnett Rubin, Center for International Cooperation, New York University. The panel was moderated by Stewart Patrick, Senior Fellow at the CFR. During the discussion, Minister Jalali warned of the risks in arming tribal militias to fight the insurgency: “They will take your money, they will take your weapons, like the did in 2006, and they’ll go.” He also noted that Afghanistan is a “battlefield of many, many states” and cautioned that “if you wait [to settle” the long-running conflicts between, say, India and Pakistan that are being fought in Afghanistan, “we do not have that much time.” He added that “the terrorists, the insurgents, whatever you call them, they have a lot of time. In Afghanistan all rebellions had one strategy, traditionally...outlast the other side.” The Afghan people, he argued, believe that the government has failed them and this is why they are unable to stand up to the insurgents. “Yes, there’s no military solution, but you can lose militarily. And the level of acceptance of foreign troops in Afghanistan by the people of Afghanistan depends on their effectiveness. “If they are effective, they welcome them. If they are not, they are associated with all negative things, like civilian casualties, like searching of homes, violating culture, all these things.” ——————————————————————— Kabul Center participates in ISDA’s annual regional security conference in Delhi Nov 5-6, New Delhi- Kabul Center for Strategic Studies joined other leading think tanks to participate in India’s Institute of Defense and Security Analysis annual regional conference. The theme of this year’s event was The Changing Political Context in South Asia: In Search of Economic Cooperation and Security. Participants included some twenty experts and strategists from across the region. Indian Vice President Shri M. H. Ansari delivered the keynote address. Kabul Center’s Executive Director, Waliullah Rahmani, presented a paper on Afghanistan entitled The New Great Game: The Contest for Afghanistan in which he attempted to apply the lessons of Afghanistan’s history to the current battles going on in the political, economic and psychological arena. Mr. Rahmani argued that if the insurgents win the political contest against the democratically-elected government of Afghanistan, the narcotics traffics win control of the economy, and the extremists win the contest for the heart and soul of Afghanistan, Afghanistan will become a safe haven for terrorists, criminals, and extremists and that the lessons of Afghan history teach that should these elements win today’s Great Game in Afghanistan, Afghans are not the only people who will have to face the consequences of this type of state. By contrast, as Mr. Rahmani went on to argue, should however the democratically-elected government and law-abiding citizens of Afghanistan win, no neighbor or other state should ever have to live in fear of Afghanistan’s future. On this note, Mr. Rahmani ended his presentation with an appeal to the region’s countries to join the Afghan government and the international coalition and devise a regional initiative to help end insurgency and instability in their Central Asian neighbor. The New Great Game and the others presented at the conference will be published in a forthcoming book by the IDSA expected to be released in December. ——————————————————————— Kabul Center Advisor Ali Jalali, Fmr. Interior Minister, discusses security situation at USIP Nov. 6, 2008, Washington, DC—Kabul Center advisor and Fmr. Minister of the Interior of Afghanistan Ali Jalali participates in a panel discussion at the United States Institute of Peace along with Maj. Gen. Peter Gilchrist, CB, Defence Attache and Head of the British Defence Staff and Fmr. Dep. Commander of the Combined Forces Command Afghanistan; Ahmad Fahim Hakim, Chair of the Independent Human Rights Commission and USIP Senior Fellow; and Mark Sedra, Centre for International Governance Innovation and co-editor of Afghanistan: Transition Under Threat. An audio recording of the event can be found here. ——————————————————————— Kabul Center Advisor Abdullah Abdullah leads Afghan Delegation to Jirgagai Oct. 27, 2008, Islamabad—Kabul Center advisor Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is leading the Afghan delegation to the jirgagai where representatives from Afghanistan and Pakistan are meeting to discuss ways of bringing about peace in the tribal areas. Dr. Abdullah, who served as Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister until 2006, was reported as saying that “the door...is even wider open today for those who accept the constitution of Afghanistan as the law of the country and also accept the principle of non-violence. “Dr. Abdullah emphasized the need to increase cooperation between the two nations in order to combat terrorism. -————————————————————–——— Kabul Center and regional think tanks form research network to address regional security Oct. 25, 2008, Dhaka— Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) announced the formation of South Asian Regional Research Forum (SARRF), a regional network of South Asian think tanks, to provide a platform to address issues related to research peace, strategy, and security issues in South Asia. BIPSS invited five organizations to participate in the initial network— Kabul Center for Strategic Studies (KCSS); Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS); Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies of India (IPCS); Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI); and South Asian Foundation of Nepal (SAF). In February 2009, SARRF members will meet in Dhaka to present their initial findings on Counter Terrorism Strategy: In Search of South Asian Cooperation. Waliullah Rahmani, Executive Director of KCSS (above left) attended the initial concept meeting of SARRF along with host/initiator Maj. Gen. ANM Muniruzzaman (above center), President of BIPSS; Muhammad Amir, Director of PIPS; Maj. Gen. Dipankar Banerjee, Director of IPCS; Nishchal Nath Pandey, Secretary of SAF; and Ranga Prasanna Kalansoooriya of SLPI. -————————————————————–———

Text Box: Kabul Center News

Text Box: Losing our way: Who is the enemy in Afghanistan? Tulsa World, March 6, 2009 Karzai’s gambits fuel Afghan crisis, The Toronto Star, March 4, 2009 Afghan’s Political Future, CTV Television, March 2, 2009 Afghan snap election unlikely, officials say, The Globe and Mail (Canada), March 2, 2009 Where Being Our Friend Doesn’t Help, Newsweek, March 2, 2009 Afghan President Calls for August Elections to be Moved Up Amid Legal Questions, The New York Times, March 1, 2009 Mini-surge to test out US strategy in Afghanistan, The Christian Science Monitor, February 18, 2009 ‘Pashtunistan’ holds key to Obama mission, The Observer (England), February 15, 2009 Coordinated Kabul assault shows Taliban strength, The Christian Science Monitor, February 12, 2009 Kabul strikes smack of Mumbai, Agence France Presse, February 12, 2009 Kabul: The final assault begins—How long can NATO hang on? Rupee News, February 11, 2009 Afghanistan Prepares for the American Surge, Terrorism Focus, February 6, 2009 Afghans not expecting much change under Obama, Agence France Presse, January 19, 2009 Afghan insurgency inspiring new fighters, Agence France Presse, January 13, 2009 Bid to split Taliban, Al Qaeda, The Christian Science Monitor, December 16, 2008 Experts Say Afghanistan Needs Regional Solution, Voice of America News, November 12, 2008 Afghan paper sees UK envoy trying to beef up support for Karzai, BBC Monitoring South Asia, November 11, 2008 Afghanistan: Pondering New Directions Under the Obama Administration, Eurasia Insight, November 11, 2008. Americans move toward arming of tribal militias in Afghanistan, and not everyone approves, The Daily Star (Lebanon), November 4, 2008 New strategies in an effort to stabilize Afghanistan, IPS (Latin America), November 3, 2008 Analysis-Afghanistan: Most Afghans Prefer Talk Over Guns, Inter Press Service, November 3, 2008 Has al-Qaeda Picked a Leader for Operations in China? Terrorism Focus, December 3, 2009 Afghans to Karzai: You failed us, Christian Science Monitor, October 23, 2008 Jalali and Ghani possible contenders for 2009 election, Pajhwok Afghan News, October 10, 2008 No Afghan-Taliban peace talks for now, Christian Science Monitor, October 9, 2008 “Politics: Desirable, but impractical?”, Business Asia Select, October 6, 2008 Afghan presidential contender says country at risk unless efforts doubled, BBC Monitoring, October 3, 2008 Crime in Afghanistan, The Guardian (London), September 3, 2008 See More publications for earlier citations and books by Kabul Center authors.

Text Box: Kabul Center in the media