On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) held an online roundtable discussion and Mehr Brief's 3rd volume publication entitled "Heart of Asia Regional Order". Mohibullah Noori, Founder of Heart of Asia Nations Integration Movement; Dr. Jafar Haghpanah, Professor at Tehran University and Head of Desk for Afghanistan Studies and the Association of Political Sciences of Iran and Shameem Ahmad Nawber, Ph.D Student Tasinghua University of China were the speakers of the program.
At the beginning of the program, Mohibullah Noori spoke about his article “Heart of Asia Regional Order”. Noori stated that the Heart of Asia Regional Order is a ten-year roadmap proposed for 2020 to 2030, which includes two strategies. The first strategy is at the national level and the second strategy is at the regional level. The main focus of the process is to identify consequences of foreign troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, he added. He believes that terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS are active in Afghanistan and other regional groups, numbering about 20, and that the activities of these groups are likely to increase if foreign forces withdraw. Noori added that the world seeks to form regional circles, and that six disciplines have been established in Asia. But there still is no strategic regional order for Afghanistan and neighboring countries.
In his opening speech, Dr. Haghpanah said that the international system is in transition mode; instead of security arrangements, it only is possible in some areas to be hopeful for continuation and formation of some security arrangements. He added that in circuital areas around Afghanistan, there are some forms of institutional order only in Central Asia that has already been formed. During the transition period, independency from international system has increased and regional power has more influence. However, even in the face of common threats such as terrorism, extremism, and organized drugs, human, and arms trafficking, we do not see much cooperation between influential regions and international powers and vice versa; thus, countries like Afghanistan remain a competitive arena for proxy wars.This especially makes it difficult to analyze the future and crisis in the country due to factors such as: 1) diversity of crisis level (domestic, regional, and international), 2) multiplicity of actors, from transitional actors to influential regional and international powers, 3) problem accumulation from crisis of state-building and nation-building to foreign interventions and environmental challenges, 4) permeability and ease of spreading crisis from other countries and regions, and 5) compression of time, and the untimely launch of traditional society to the global network society. Despite these conditions, strengthening of civic institutions, media, and more recently growth of cyberspace and growing ties with nations and international institutions, growing sensitivity and commitment of international community, along with balancing global power and creating new spaces for Afghanistan, keeps ones' hope alive.
The latest speaker of the event was Shameem Ahmad Nawber. He said that the presence or absence of foreign troops in Afghanistan would have different consequences. "The lack of peace in Afghanistan has internal and external roots that Afghanistan and the international community will be able to pave the way for true peace in the country only by understanding and recognizing the objective realities of Afghanistan", he added. He also noted that achieving true peace requires dialogue in a society where citizens can express their demands. "The internal problems between ethnic groups must first be resolved and a common vision of national issues must be formed. In this case, we can overcome the challenges", he believed.
Please click on the link below to find the full texts of Mehr Brief's 3rd volume:
Eng: https://aiss.af/a…/aiss_publication/Mehr_Brief-English-3.pdf
Farsi: https://aiss.af/ass…/aiss_publication/Mehr_Brief-Farsi-3.pdf