Ambassador speaks about current state and future of Afghanistan

IU students, staff and faculty gathered at the Maurer School of Law Thursday evening to hear about the current state and future of Afghanistan from Nasir Ahmad Andisha, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Fiji.

Andisha spoke about the current economic, political and security challenges the country now faces as United States and NATO forces prepare to withdraw in 2014.

Melissa Biddinger, the associate director of the Australian National University-Indiana University Pan Asia Institute, said the event was a great opportunity for people to expand their viewpoints of Afghanistan.

“One of the goals of the institute is to promote interest and understanding in Asia,” Biddinger said, “With the major transition that Afghanistan is facing, we think it’s important for everyone to have an understanding from an Afghanistan perspective about what the future may bring.”

Andisha’s lecture was titled “Afghanistan Post 2014: Challenges, Opportunities and the Way Forward.”

“By every measure, with support from the U.S. and other international partners, Afghanistan of today has seen dramatic improvements,” Andisha said.

The people of Afghanistan, Andisha said, are living much longer, children have more access to education, and the economy has grown 11 percent in 2012. Also, for the first time since the Soviet Union invasion in 1979, Afghanistan has an independent media in place.

“As long as we have this strong cooperation with other governments, Afghanistan will continue progressing,” Andisha said, “This will not be solved in a single generation.”  

However, he said there is a possible obstacle to Afghanistan’s improvement.

“The stability in Afghanistan is linked to the regional security complexes and a proxy regional power struggle on the Afghan soil,” Andisha said.

This struggle has created space for Al Qaeda and other groups to overrun the region.

As long as this struggle is not contained, it is close to impossible to have a stable and secure Afghanistan, Andisha said.

One solution, he said, would be a security arrangement between U.S./NATO and Afghanistan that ensures the enduring presence of forces in Afghanistan. Another solution would be an intentionally recognized and guaranteed neutralization of Afghanistan that could ensure stability of Afghanistan while addressing the security concerns of the surrounding countries.

Though neither of these policies are completely guaranteed, Andisha said he hopes Afghanistan will eventually become a stable, neutral country.

Biddinger met with Andisha prior to his speech.

“The information he shares is actually quite hopeful,” she said, “I was much more pessimistic about what might transpire until I met with the ambassador. I’m cautiously optimistic.”

The event was sponsored by the Center on American and Global Security and the ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute.

CAGS is a research unit within IU that explores and investigates the current security challenges the U.S. is facing in the contemporary 21st century.

The ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute is a program that emphasizes area study centers and foreign language programs that revolve around the pan-Asian region.

Andisha is currently a Ph.D. candidate for Diplomatic Studies at the Asia Pacific College of Diplomacy at ANU.

Biddinger said the ambassador is friends with a faculty member within the ANU-UI Pan Asian Institute, which was the primary reason they were able to book him. This was his first visit to Bloomington and IU.

Andisha offered to come to campus and they agreed, Biddinger said.

“We thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to bring Afghanistan issues to campus,” she said.

Biddinger stresses the opportunity this provides for students.

“It’s so rare we here in Indiana get a chance to hear from Afghans themselves,” she said, “With the way that our news media will cover things, it’s often general and decidedly from an American prospective. It’s important for our students to have a more holistic perspective in relations to Afghanistan.”

Follow Greek Life reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn