BSIS Guest Lecturer Series in Conflict Analysis, March 2013
As part of the Brussels School of International Studies guest lecture series, PhD student Robert Zaman hosted the Pakistan and Afghanistan ambassadors to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg in a lecture on Perceptions from the Afghanistan-Pakistan Region.
This lecture series aimed to address the scheduled 2014 drawdown of allied forces from Afghanistan and the subsequent shift of security responsibility from the international community to regional actors, including Afghanistan and Pakistan. As discussant, Robert focused attention on concerns over the timing and overall readiness, not only for sustaining forward momentum, but also for Afghanistan’s ability to develop and maintain a monopoly on the legitimate use of force that is fundamental for the preservation of its sovereignty; for Pakistan, he directed attention to the handoff of security responsibilities coupled with the ongoing difficulties of managing Pakistan’s own domestic security which calls into question the extent of its role and contribution to stability and the facilitation of progress in the region.
The lecture series at BSIS are intended to bring together senior members of the Brussels diplomatic community, together with European institutional decision makers, researchers and postgraduate students to examine key foreign policy issues in an objective minded, academic setting.
Robert Zaman is reading toward a doctoral degree in International Conflict Analysis with research toward an Examination of the Power Structures of Militant Occupied Tribal Communities, with case studies in Pakistan and Yemen. He can be reached at rz37@kent.ac.uk. Further details at http://www.kent.ac.uk/brussels/staff/profiles/research/zaman.html
In attendance:
A number of Afghan and regional refugees, academics and practitioners from the Brussels community
Dr. David Peterson, Senior Fellow, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University
H.E. Mr. Munawar Saeed Bhatti, Ambassador of Pakistan to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg
H.E. Mr. Homayoun Tandar, Ambassador of Afghanistan to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg