Momentum continues to shift among international and Afghan actors towards a peace process in Afghanistan. However, ambiguities and uncertainty remain in the US political and military strategy, neither the ability of the Afghan government to successfully lead a peace process nor the insurgents’ interest in one is certain, and the regional context remains challenging after the death of Osama Bin Laden. An expanding body of commentary focuses on international and US strategy but is less often coupled with detailed examination of the views of Afghan stakeholders.
Hamish Nixon presents findings from a large set of interviews with Afghan leaders and opinion-formers about their views on the conflict and the issues that a peace process will have to address. The interviews were conducted in the context of an ongoing project by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) to identify and clarify through research and dialogue issues and options to help Afghanistan to move towards durable peace. After the presentation there will be discussion of implications for the design and structure of a potential Afghan peace process.
The findings will also be published in a PRIO Paper to be launched the same day. Summary available here. The full paper is available here.
Video podcast of seminar, please clickhere.
Presenter: Hamish Nixon, Project Coordinator
Commentators: Kristian Berg Harpviken (Director, PRIO) and Astri Suhrke (Senior Researcher, CMI)
Chair: Arne Strand (Deputy Director, CMI)
