NUST Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies organised a seminar on "Future Political Dispensation of Afghanistan." Two prominent scholars Professor William Maley from Australian National University and Inam-ul-Haq former Foreign Secretary and Minister of State were invited to speak on the subject.
Students and faculty members of local universities and representatives of various think tanks and government officials from concerned departments attended the seminar. The speakers highlighted the international and regional dimensions of the problem and internal dynamics of Afghanistan with their impact on future political dispensation of the country and Pakistan's interests.
Their speeches were followed by Q & A session. There was a consensus that during the ongoing "War on Terror" in Afghanistan, the wrong perceptions and mistaken assessment of the situation led to the continuing chaos. The efforts to create a broad-based and legitimate government, including development of Afghan security forces, were poorly orchestrated. Today, the leading world players engaged in Afghanistan have come to understand that a stable Afghan government with fair representation of all segments of the society, an indigenous security apparatus and a fairly distributed economic development are essential for viable long-term peace and stability in this war ravaged country.
The world is now realising that while violence in Afghanistan must be brought under control, the international community needs to get back to the basics by focusing on rule of law, economic empowerment and fair political dispensation in line with the internal dynamics of the country. The Rector NUST Engineer Mohammad Asghar, concluding the seminar remarked that the destinies of Pakistan and Afghanistan are geographically, socially, ethically, ideologically and most importantly economically interlinked. Therefore, the subject of today's discourse is very close to our hearts.-PR