NATO Afghan Students Forum gathered in Berlin almost 30 people interested in the topic of Afghanistan. – Why did you come here? What do you expect from this meeting? – participants and experts on Forum are answering our question.
/collected by: Julia Balanowski, Vera Ragone and Thomas Alboth/
Syed Ahmad Raza ZAIDI (Pakistan)
I expect to get inside the Afghanistan topic for a better understanding of the problems which also effect since 30 years Pakistan and also myself: I mean – I have been 200 yards away from a suicide attack on a military post in Lahore some days ago.
Michel Duray, NATO Public Diplomacy Division.
I came here because it’s important to have a dialogue with successor generations which may not know much about NATO yet. It’s the elite we’ve invited here, and we have to engage and to network, it’s not propaganda, it’s communication.
Robert Mikac (Croatia): “I used to work in Afghanistan for NATO, spending half a year in Kabul. Besides, the subject of my master degree was Afghanistan and I published a book about Afghanistan called “the never ending conflict”. That´s why I am especially interested in this forum”
Martin Hauge Pedersen (Denmark): “I would especially like to meet people from the area Afghanistan/Pakistan, talking about what we are discussing in my NGO in London, the Atlantic Treaty Organization.”
Katja Boettcher (Germany) “I am a student at King´s College in London. A class about European security including NATO made me sensitive to the topic. What I expect from the conference is exchanging views with people I would never meet, what it is like to be there.”
Anum Bashir (Pakistan)“It´s the first time that I am in Europe. My first impression: Berlin is a lovely place, but very cold. I am doing my master in international relations. It is important to establish regional stability in Afghanistan, because then it might be in Pakistan as well. Besides, I would like to change one-sided views and images about Pakistan which are widely spread in Europe.”
Hameedullah (Afghanistan): “I would like to share information and to get to know the perception of European countries. Highest priority in Afghanistan is security. People in Afghanistan were faced three decades in insecurity. NATO is helping us to improve the situation. However, many people in Afghanistan, especially those in rural regions, think that NATO is coming for religious reasons. So NATO needs to aim for a better public opinion.”
