Peace in Afghanistan: New Dawn or False Hope ? – Part 1 (25 Apr 2019)

Multiple Speakers

20190425

Over the past few months there has been a renewed push by the Government of Afghanistan and its international partners to hold peace talks with the Taliban in order to reach an intra-Afghan peace agreement. In 2019 the United States in particular has been leading several rounds of talks with the Taliban to bring them to negotiate peace with the Afghan government. Yet at the same time, the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated markedly and Afghanistan appears at the political precipice, with the Taliban controlling more territory than at any time since 2001 and recently announcing their spring offensive. Given the complexity of the current political and security situation, this panel will discuss whether the outreach to the Taliban in the hopes of securing a peace agreement represents a new era of peace in Afghanistan or whether it is a false hope which provides just enough cover to the international community to exit from Afghanistan. Introductory Remarks Dr Rani D. Mullen Visiting Senior Research Fellow Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS ISAS Panel Discussion Peace in Afghanistan: New Dawn or False Hope? Chairperson: Professor C Raja Mohan Director Institute of South Asian Studies, NUS Panellists Ambassador Nasir A. Andisha Ambassador and Permanent Representative Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Geneva; and Former Deputy Foreign Minister, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Kabul Professor William Maley Professor, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific Australian National University, Canberra Ms Sonia Eqbal Country Director Open Society Foundation, Kabul Mr David Samuel Sedney Senior Associate Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C