The effort to end the war in Afghanistan with a political settlement has moved to the forefront of the policy conversation, with all elements of the U.S. government, including the military, increasingly playing a role. As the top American commander in Afghanistan commented this week, “this is not going to be won militarily. This is going to a political solution.”

In support of this effort, USIP is partnering with CENTCOM—the U.S. military command responsible for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Middle East—for a panel on the status of the Afghan peace process and the U.S. military’s potential role. Through the Department of Defense’s Strategic Multilayer Assessment program, CENTCOM has generated five key questions—touching on U.S. strategy toward the peace process, the relationship between top-down and bottom-up peace efforts, and the role of Afghanistan’s neighbors—for a panel of experts with deep experience in this peace effort. Join the conversation on Twitter with #AfghanPeace.

Speakers

Johnny Walsh
Senior Expert, U.S Institute of Peace 

Vikram Singh
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia, U.S. Department of State, and Senior Advisor to the Asia Program, U.S. Institute of Peace

Laurel Miller
Former Acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, U.S. Department of State, and Senior Foreign Policy Expert, RAND Corporation

Jason Campbell
Former Country Director for Afghanistan, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Associate Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation

Orzala Nemat 
Director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, AREU 

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