by Anna Siitam
Opening the Nato Afghan Student Forum was Daniele Riggio, representative from NATO along with Claudia Croci, forum coordinator and Andrea de Guttry from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.
Just as silent as they were respectful the 35 participants, from Afghanistan, Central Asia as well as NATO countries, started their first day of three intensive days to come.
In a peaceful atmosphere the students were welcomed in the beautiful Aula Magna.
Guttry welcomed the participants to the most wonderful city, in the most wonderful region in the most wonderful country with a big smile. Rigio then invited all the students to be as interactive as possible in this second NATO Afghan Student Forum for a deeper and more regional content based forum. Even though Rigio arrived to Pisa without his suitcase he managed to come well prepared as well as well dressed, just like all the participating students who presented themselves as highly educated and deeply involved in this forums issue.
Croci expressed her optimism for the future of Afghanistan. The success of setting up a new constitution and the new government gives hope, but all of this is useless if the population is not involved in the process.
“Just as Afghanistan need to build bridges with the neighboring countries, we can all start today with meeting and talking to each other”, Croci stressed the importance of seeing Afghanistan in its regional context and pointed out the lack of this point of view today;
“You can easily think that Afghanistan is an island when you look at the coverage in the media. The problematic of Afghanistan is not just of internal dynamic but also of regional”.
There was a shared view of importance of communication and regional co-operation in the region between the participants. Afghanistan needs constructive partnerships and the Central Asia countries have so far failed in supporting one another.
Samuil Lozanov from Bulgaria, shared his concerns about the problematic in how to involve the population in development issues instead of illegal activities where money attracts.
The students from Afghanistan responded to Lozanov with the lack of education in the region;
“There is a high wish in Afghanistan for education and this is also one of the main goals for the next time in developing the country. This is needed for the population to understand the changes that are happening”, Mohammed Azam, from Afghanistan filled in.
Many students also shared the wish for a common organization or platform in resemblance to the European Union for central Asia to discuss issues on a common ground to start political as well as social co-operations. Co-operation seems to be a key word both on political and grass root level for the stabilization process in Afghanistan.
“It is time to build bridges. Real bridges, and we can start here today, Claudia exclaimed”.
Anna Siitam
Conflict continuation
by Sophie Bleich
Later on Croci agreed that these bridges just have to be rebuilt, due to the fact that they existed before. Even though there have been some conflicts with Afghanistan and its neighboring countries.
Being asked to speak about this Afghan conflict Elisa Giunchi from the University of Milan was unsure which conflict in Afghanistan to inform about but decided to give a brief overview of the Afghan conflict history in general.
Conditional upon several conflicts with several players there are always going to be different perceptions of the conflicts, stated Giunchi. In her opinion Pakistan is one of the most important countries when it comes to influencing Afghanistan in its conflict history. In reference to this she especially concentrated in her lecture on the historical relationship between both countries.
“For understanding the current situation in Afghanistan you have to be aware of its history”, Giunchi said.
Mentioning the knowledge about islamistic movements and their impact on stability in the country she is certain that they are one of the reasons for the status quo in Afghanistan. Being aware of the fact that even the US and some Central Asian states supported the islamistic movements within history by providing them with money and trainings can explain the situation a little more, she told the participants.
After the lecture the listeners found themselves in a one-on-one interview with the representative of the Milan University. They took their chances on bringing up some pertinent questions. First of all they agreed on the importance of knowing about the fact that the islamistic movements have been supported not just from the inside but also from the outside of Afghanistan. Furthermore some participants evinced their hope for a better relationship and communication with Pakistan, since both countries are important players in the regional context of solving conflicts in the area. By cooperating with each other they’ll have a chance on stabilizing the unstable area.
