Foreign & Security Policy

The current situation in Afghanistan is difficult. The violence is increasing, and neither the international forces or the Afghan government seem to be able to prevent this. A peace process between the government and the rebels which regulates the distribution of power in the state, could pacify the situation.

After seven months of military repression, Syria’s protest movement is still bravely confronting the government of Bashar al-Assad. Layla Al-Zubaidi heads the office of the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation in Beirut. In an interview, she speaks about the endurance of the protests, the complexity of confessional groups and Turkeys role in the conflict.

Arab Spring cought the West by surprise. The United States are currently facing a tremendous loss of influence in the region. Changing US policy toward authoritarian regimes has been like turning an oil tanker.

Afghanistans development is heavily dependend on the role of its neighboring country Pakistan. A new report examines the perceptions of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy Elite on the situation in Afghanistan, their interests and strategies. The results are uncomforting.

German involvement in Afghanistan did not begin with the attacks of September 11. An analysis, goals and results of the current crisis of the mission in Afghanistan and a possible future.

In the past 50 years, Afghans have witnessed many rights violation and crimes committed by ethnic and ideological leaders, commanders, belligerent factions and locally powerful forces. This study analyzes the issue by focusing on how Afghan citizens assess these crimes today.

In December 2011, ten years after the Petersberg Conference, the future of Afghanistan will be discussed anew. How can Afghanistan increasingly become militarily, politically and economically more independent? And where does the Afghan parliament and civil society stand in this year’s Bonn Conference? Will they be included? Or will they – as is so often the case in international conferences – be excluded?

After ten years of international involvement in Afghanistan, a second conference will take plan in Bonn this December 2011 to discuss the country’s future. Since 2002, the Heinrich Böll Foundation has actively supported the development of civil society in Afghanistan and has promoted exchanges between the German and Afghan public. The following dossier provides a venue for comments, analysis and debate ahead of the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan.

Wedding ceremonies have become ruinous for many Afghans. A new law now aims at limiting the expenses. The good intention of the initiative is tarnished, however, because the draft at the same time sanctions heavy governmental interference into personal affairs.

An extremist takeover of Pakistan is probably no further than five to 10 years away. Even today, some radical Islamists are advocating war against America.