On 24 of June, ICOS co-organised with the European Policy Centre (EPC) a Policy Dialogue on “Tackling Afghanistan’s Security and Development Dilemma” in Brussels. The panel discussion brought together the views of NATO (Assistant Secretary General for Operations Martin Howard), the European Parliament (Ana Gomes from the European Socialist Group), the European Commission (Bettina Muscheidt from the Afghanistan Desk at the External Relations DG) and ICOS (Emmanuel).

While most presentations focused on the challenges lying ahead for NATO, Europe and the international community at large, Mr. Reinert’s presentation put the current crisis situation in historic perspective, mentioning the wrong choices made and misguided policies implemented by the international community in the past few years as one of the major causes leading to the present situation.

The moderator for this event was Ms Shada Islam from the European Policy Centre. The event gave a complete overview of the current state of affairs in Afghanistan and the next steps for the Afghan Government and the international community. The topics discussed included NATOs ISAF mission, the problem of corruption, the training of the Afghan National Policy and Afghan National Army, institution building, the regional focus of Pakistan, the current state of the Taliban insurgency, the role of the Afghan media, the Afghan parliament, the lack of development and the pros and cons of the priorities set by the international community at the Paris Donor Conference earlier this month.

After the panel contributions there was a long and interesting exchange of views with the audience. 85 people attended this two-hour event, including journalists, Embassy staff, officials of the European Union and staff of other think tanks and foundations.