This Discussion Paper is jointly presented by Novib-Oxfam Netherlands, ActionAid and Alternatives. It is written as a response to the Government / International Agency report on 'Securing Afghanistan's Future : Accomplishments and the Strategic Path Forward' (hereafter SAF), that has been prepared for the International Conference to be held on Afghanistan in Berlin in late March 2004. This Discussion Paper has been prepared to provide a considered position and in the belief that the SAF will and should remain a policy document in progress and for debate rather than the final word.

What this Paper sets out to do is engage with and challenge, in a preliminary exercise, the major narratives and assumptions that underpin the SAF. In this, it is a partial exercise both in policy analysis and argument for a modified agenda.

This note contains an initial brief summary of the key arguments of SAF. It then goes on to highlight its key strengths before unpacking the major assumptions that underlie it and responding to these, and concludes with a brief summary position and recommendations.

• Afghan Women Resource Center (AWRC)
• Sanyee Development Foundation (SDF)
• Afghan Women Education Center (AWEC)
• Afghan Women Network (AWN)
• The Independent Association of Afghan Intellectuals (IAAI)
• Afghan Study Center (ASC)
• Representative from Swat Local Organization SAWERA
• Liberal Forum of Pakistan
• Afghanistan Peace and Democracy Act (APDA)
• Afghanistan Human Rights and Environment Protection Organization (AOHREP)
• Apart from it mass-media representatives also attended this workshop.

IRIN Afghan President, Hamid Karzai

KABUL, 28 Jan 2003 (IRIN) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a man with a mission. He was nominated to head the Interim Administration in Bonn, Germany, in November 2001, and elected President by an overwhelming majority at the Emergency Loya Jirga in Kabul last June. The 45-year-old has worked arduously for years to bring peace and stability to his fractured nation, devastated by over two decades of war.
In an exclusive interview with IRIN, Karzai, the son of a prominent tribal leader, assessed the pressing humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, but emphasized the importance of reconstruction.

Introduction:

The 24 years of Afghan war has sketched out the novel histories not only within its own country Afghanistan and its region but also in the world ranging from developing countries to developed ones.

War is invariably fiendish regardless of any kind of distinction. No matter where it occurs? In which socio-economic setup it emerges. But wherever it goes it afire everything as a fire lightens and burns trees/plants in a forest.

In recent years, Afghanistan has produced numerous Afghan refugees as well as asylum seekers. Today Afghans are spread across the globe- to be a refugee in another country does not satisfies the only question that what are their basic rights?