Asia

Every year, when the western countries’ parliaments debate about the extension or otherwise of their troops’ mission in Afghanistan, the people of Afghanistan get concerned and anxious. More than 60% of Afghans want the international forces to remain in the country and 88% consider the Taliban and al-Qaeda the perpetrators of violence. 

The Afghan region Loya Paktia is very much embedded in tribal traditions, which have in the past provided security in the area. Due to lost windows of opportunity, security has deteriorated to a large extend since 2005. This policy paper discusses the problematic relations between the main actors, why reconciliation initiatives to date have failed in the Southeast, and puts forward some practical suggestions to ensure a more effective strategy.

Shagufta Malik is a political scientist and currently provincial president of the ANP (Women Wing). She is Chairperson of the Standing Committee Sports, Cultural, Tourism, Archeology, and Youth Affairs, Chairperson of the Standing Committee of Planning and Development (PND) as well as Chairperson of the Public Safety and Police Complaint Commission. As the provincial president of the ANP, she arranged a Women Peace Convention, which was a great success with more than three thousand women participating. Here is an interview with her on the occasion of our conference.

Dr. Abid Suleri is a Pakistani social policy analyst and development practitioner. He is a prolific writer and regularly contributes articles for various national and international newspapers. He is a strong supporter of social justice and warns that militancy and violence cannot be tackled without addressing individual insecurities such as food insecurity, poverty, and marginalization. He specialized in food security and obtained his Ph.D. in this subject from the University of Greenwich, UK.

Muhammad Idrees Kamal worked in the private industrial sector for many years on a variety of topics. He is the Executive Director of the organization “Citizen Rights and Sustainable Development”.

With the general elections and the release of  Aung San Suu Kyi, November 2010 was a remarkable month full of emotional ups and downs for Burma/Myanmar. The Burmese student Ma Hnin Moe tells her view of the situation.

The release of 65-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner and Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention overjoyed most of the Burmese people inside and outside Burma. She is freed unconditionally, but it still remains unclear about the expectation of the government over her role in Burma politics.

In November 2010 Myanmar went to the polls for the first time in 20 years. While the elections have been written off by the west and welcomed in Asia, the issues around this seminal event are far more complex on a closer look. This article will aim to shed some light on the background to the elections, what changes the new structure is likely to engender and what Myanmar’s main future challenges will be.

Afghanistan’s south eastern province of Khost is well connected with important centers of trade on the other side of the border in Pakistan. At the same time, these advantages are also being used by insurgents and make Khost a primary spot for infiltration. TLO, a partner organization of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, takes a closer look at Khost province and analyzes the effects of the erosion of tribal unity there over the last decades. 

China is the world leader in exports of rare earths, which are mainly used for the production of hi-tech products. The Heinrich Böll Foundation talked with Dr. Zha Daojiong, a professor at the School of International Studies of Peking University, about the important raw materials and the role of China.