Menu

United States Institute of Peace

Home ▶ Events

Five Years After the U.S. Intervention: What Can the U.S. Do to Help Afghanistan?

A public meeting of the Afghanistan Working Group

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2006 / Time: 6:00am - 7:30am 

Share This
Print the Page

This is the first session of a four-part series leading to the fifth anniversary of the fall of the Taliban.

The Taliban, drug traffickers, local warlords, cross-border insurgency, and other anti-government forces are exploiting the weaknesses of an impoverished nation and a weak central government, which threatens the achievements of the last five years.

  • What resources can be directed to make the Afghan state stronger and more stable?
  • How effective is the new NATO strategy?
  • Are the police and army capable of ensuring security throughout Afghanistan?
  • How strong is the Taliban and how can the Taliban's forces be countered?

Speakers

  • Deborah Alexander
    Former Special Advisor
    U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan (2002-2006)
  • John Gastright
    Deputy Assistant Secrety of State for South Asian Affairs
    U.S. Department of State
  • Jonathan Landay
    Journalist
    McClatchy Newspapers
  • Beth Cole DeGrasse, Moderator
    U.S.Institute of Peace

Related Publications

How to Support Female Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan

How to Support Female Entrepreneurs in Afghanistan

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

By: Belquis Ahmadi;  Afsana Rahimi

Potential areas of cooperation between the Taliban and the international community, such as private sector development and alternative livelihoods to now-banned opium poppy cultivation, will be on the agenda at a meeting of international envoys for Afghanistan hosted by the United Nations in Doha from June 30 to July 1. Discussions on women’s rights are not included, as the Taliban consider it an internal matter. This is ironic, given that the private sector is one area where the Taliban allow limited women’s participation.

Type: Analysis

Economics;  Gender

As Taliban Poppy Ban Continues, Afghan Poverty Deepens

As Taliban Poppy Ban Continues, Afghan Poverty Deepens

Thursday, June 20, 2024

By: William Byrd, Ph.D.

Afghanistan, historically the leading source of the world’s illegal opium, is on-track for an unprecedented second year of dramatically reduced poppy cultivation, reflecting the Taliban regime’s continuing prohibition against growing the raw material for opiates. The crackdown has won plaudits in international circles, but its full implications call for clear-eyed analysis and well considered responses by the U.S. and others. The ban has deepened the poverty of millions of rural Afghans who depended on the crop for their livelihoods, yet done nothing to diminish opiate exports, as wealthier landowners sell off inventories. The unfortunate reality is that any aid mobilized to offset harm from the ban will be grossly insufficient and ultimately wasted unless it fosters broad-based rural and agricultural development that benefits the most affected poorer households. 

Type: Analysis

Economics

View All Publications