A Joint Seminar of NDU - National Defence University

SESSION TWO
AFGHANISTAN SITUATION AND WAY FORWARD: REVIEWING THE STRATEGIC
DIMENSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE REGIONAL APPROACH
Introduction
Second session of the seminar was chaired by Ambassador Rustam Shah
Mohmand, former ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan. The session offered
deliberations on Afghanistan situation, the withdrawal scenario, need for political
engagement with insurgents concord with neighbor states and possible role of
neighboring states in Afghanistan’s future. Mr. Qin Zhilai from China and Amb Rustam
Shah Mohmand from Pakistan delivered presentations on the title: "Afghanistan
Situation and Way Forward: Reviewing the strategic dimensions and implications of the
regional approach." the presentations sparked off a fruitful interactive discussion among
the participants which was followed by the wrap up comments of session's chair.
Speaker 1: Mr. Qin Zhilai
From geopolitical perspective, Mr. Qin Zhilai’s paper highlighted three aspects of
the situation in Afghanistan: the current situation, Afghanistan’s geo-political importance
and future of Afghanistan in geo political context.
After September 11, Central Asia became part of US Euro-Asia. Central Asia
once again became spring board of major powers. Afghanistan has never been friendly
towards foreign intervention. Any superpower involvement in Afghanistan has only
written pain of war. The current US efforts of reconstruction and rehabilitations have
also met with failure. The current predicament includes terrorism, drugs and political
turmoil. The peace in Afghanistan is also important for China, Japan and Russia.
Afghanistan’s location in the center of the Asian continent gives it a geopolitically
strategic significance. The northern part of Afghanistan borders on the southern end of
Central Asia, respectively is adjacent to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan from
west to east; its northeast prominent narrow strip border with China; the east and
southeast land is adjacent to Pakistan, the west is the junction with Iran. In view of the
special geographical position of Afghanistan, changes in the situation in Afghanistan
often impact on other countries in this region. Afghanistan is geo-strategically important
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