On Thursday 8 November 2018, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS), launched its recent research paper entitled “The Fallacy of Peace Process in Afghanistan: the People’s Perspectives”. Distinguished politicians, diplomats, academics, civil society members and media representatives attended the event. The paper is aimed to discuss Afghanistan’s peace processes post-2001, as well as the level of awareness on the peace process, people’s perception of the Taliban and evaluation of the current peace process.
At the beginning of the program, Dr Omar Sadr, the author of the research presented its key findings and added that the current survey is the most comprehensive report on the peace process in Afghanistan. This study provides a historical analysis of the last 17 years of peace initiatives and processes in the country. Chapter one of the study outlines three phases of the peace process in Afghanistan. According to study's finding on the level of Awareness, 51.6% of the people have little awareness and 14.5% have no awareness on the important issues with regard to Afghanistan’s peace process and also over 63.3% of the respondents opined that the past efforts on peace process failed.
Amrullah Saleh, Head of Green Trend of Afghanistan was the second speaker of the event, in which he talked about peace negotiation with Taliban and suggested that it should be based on the possession and control of Afghans, however, the current preliminary negotiation is being administered by Americans. For instance, Khalilzad did not report about his meeting with senior Taliban officials in Qatar to the president of Afghanistan.
Then Ms. Lailuma Nasiri, Head of Afghanistan Justice Organization said that the current research paper is an outstanding achievement for Afghanistan, as in the past, it was the foreigners who mostly would carry out researches on peace in Afghanistan, so, AISS's current report is a good accomplishment for the country. She added that given the report's findings, the common perception and understanding about the peace in Afghanistan is very low.
The last speaker of the programme was Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, American Academy of Diplomacy and Former US Ambassador in Afghanistan. He said there is no unique perception regarding peace in the country. Also, he added that there is political pressure on USA government to work for the peace in Afghanistan, but it will take more time to bring peace and stability in the country.
The event ended with the Q&A session.