June 2004
Vol. X, No. 2
Short Takes
Afghanistan's Security: Playing for High Stakes
Zalmai Rassoul, national security adviser to President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, visited the Institute in mid-November to discuss how the international community could help "win the peace" in Afghanistan at this critical moment in the country's history. Afghanistan's security is threatened by three interrelated problems, he said. The first is the continued fight against terrorism, with both the Taliban and al Qaeda receiving money and volunteers from neighboring countries. Second is the continued threat of "warlordism," which is in many ways a "side effect" of the war against the Taliban. The third threat comes from narcotics trafficking, with drugs now being bartered directly for weapons. Balanced against these threats, said Rassoul, is a "tremendous will" among the people of Afghanistan to work for peace. The stakes are high: "If we succeed, we will have created a democratic regime with moderate Islam and become a model for the region. But if we fail, the region will be pushed further to extremism. "
Fulbright Scholars Plenary Session
The Institute hosted a plenary session of Fulbright New Century Scholars in mid-November to focus on "Fanning the Flames, Putting out the Fire: Ethnic Conflicts and the Peace Process." The session was the culmination of a year-long project that brought together a group of thirty top scholars and professionals from around the world and supported their research on various aspects of protracted conflicts and the efforts to resolve them.
Institute executive vice president Harriet Hentges opened the session by welcoming the scholars, noting that it seemed a natural fit for the Institute to host the event, because the Institute is "devoted to advancing the analysis of conflict and how to end it." Indeed, she said, "Like the Fulbright program, the Institute's mission is global in scope and is built on the principle that American national interests are served by securing peace among the peoples and nations of the world."
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Track One–Track Two Cooperation "Only a few years ago, Track Two diplomacy was seen as a marginal endeavor. That has totally changed, and today we recognize it as cutting-edge activity." So said Institute president Richard Solomon, opening an all-day symposium held at the Institute in late November on "Track One–Track Two Cooperation." The symposium was cohosted by four groups: the Alliance for Conflict Transformation, the Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and Resolution, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and the Institute. Solomon pointed to the success of the campaign to prohibit the use of land minds as an example of the potential for Track Two, or nonofficial, negotiations. Conversely, he said, the failure of the Camp David peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis demonstrated that there has to be a public foundation for peace if Track One (official) diplomacy is to succeed. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, who gave the keynote address, praised the deepening cooperation between public and private peacemaking efforts. "Every single area I work on is bridged or affected by public-private partnerships," she said, citing work in Guatemala, Afghanistan, and the Niger River Delta. Symposium organizers Andrea Strimling and Susan Allen Nan sketched a history of the development of Track Two diplomacy, a field they said has been bedeviled by conceptual difficulties. Track Two implies the involvement of nongovernment intervenors in peace negotiations, but there is no consensus about the specific strengths each track brings to the process or how they can best cooperate. Setting the stage for the daylong symposium Strimling suggested that "there is a broad agreement that we should do a better job of coordinating, but as yet little consensus on how to do it." The symposium featured several of the pioneering theorists in the field, including Joseph Montville and John McDonald, who are widely credited with articulating the original concept of multitrack diplomacy in the early 1980s. An afternoon session involved breakout groups on Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, facilitated by experienced negotiators in these areas. |
Central African Bishops Visit Institute
Four Catholic bishops, including Frederic Cardinal Etsou, the archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, spoke on war and peace at a meeting held at the Institute in early November. They bishops urged greater U.S. involvement in the region's troubled path to peace and reaffirmed the church's commitment to human rights and economic development. Also visiting were Bishop Nicolas Djomo, Archbishop Augustin Misago, and Archbishop Simon Ntamwana. E. Michael Southwick, former U.S. ambassador to Uganda and program officer in the Research and Studies Program at the Institute, moderated the event.
Kosova members of parliament visit Institute
Two prominent Kosovars, Ismajl Karteshi, a member of parliament, and Sabri Hamiti, head of international cooperation for the Assembly of Kosovo, visited the Institute in mid-December to discuss their vision for the future of their region. Both expressed concern that Belgrade was interfering in Kosovo's affairs, making promises to the Serbian minority that encouraged them to pursue an obstructionist and separatist agenda. Neither glossed over the potential dangers: "We will do our best to comply with the human rights standards proposed by the international community," said Hamiti, "but if they are seen as just another strategy to buy time and prevent Kosovo from moving towards independence, we will be headed toward a crisis." Dan Serwer, director of Peace and Stability Operations at the Institute, hosted the meeting; he said that, from Washington's perspective, "the best strategy for the Kosovo provisional government is to focus on implementing the standards." Karteshi and Hamiti agreed that the best approach would be for all parties to work together to implement the standards and thus avoid a crisis, but, said Karteshi, "Two months, five months, two years from now, Kosovo will be independent, and this will solve the crisis in Kosovo—and in Serbia for that matter."
Other Institute Resources:
- Establishing the Rule of Law in Afghanistan (Related Institute Report)
- "Fanning the Flames, Putting Out the Fire" (Event Audio Archive)
- Catholic Perspectives on Peace and Reconciliation in the Great Lakes (Event Audio Archive)
- Balkans Initiative
