2009 Apr 28 - 9:00am
2009 Apr 28 - 6:00pm
April 27 – 28, 2009 [New York City]
Description:
This conference is aiming to garner intellectual perspectives to analyze from a regional point of view the development of Afghanistan and the possibility of Afghanistan to become independent of foreign military occupation. With the U.S. President, Barack Obama, calling for escalating the war in Afghanistan by sending in additional combat troops, we believe that this will be a futile action if it is not accompanied by a sound development strategy. More foreign troops are not conducive to the conflict in Afghanistan as there will be harmful regional and domestic implications of this action, and we wish through this conference, to propose alternate solutions to this cause. By bri nging members of Afghanistan, its neighboring countries, and the international community together in this conference, we need to not only discuss this vital issue but also have progressive leaders of the academia, civil society and NGOs to propose a solution to it.
This conference is aiming to garner intellectual perspectives to analyze from a regional point of view the development of Afghanistan and the possibility of Afghanistan to become independent of foreign military occupation. With the U.S. President, Barack Obama, calling for escalating the war in Afghanistan by sending in additional combat troops, we believe that this will be a futile action if it is not accompanied by a sound development strategy. More foreign troops are not conducive to the conflict in Afghanistan as there will be harmful regional and domestic implications of this action, and we wish through this conference, to propose alternate solutions to this cause. By bri nging members of Afghanistan, its neighboring countries, and the international community together in this conference, we need to not only discuss this vital issue but also have progressive leaders of the academia, civil society and NGOs to propose a solution to it.
Conference Outline
Monday April 27th, 2009
6:00PM - 9:00PM Screening and Panel Discussion of Afghan Women: A History of Struggle
6:00PM - 9:00PM Screening and Panel Discussion of Afghan Women: A History of Struggle
Tuesday April 28th, 2009
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM Welcome Breakfast - Task-force Committee, Panel Members.
9:30 - 9:40 QC President’s Welcome.
9:40 – 9:45 Welcome on behalf of the APA, Dr. Nadi
10:00 - 10:50 Keynote Address: Dr. Ramazan Bashardost
11:00 – 12:30 Panel Discussion I: U.S.and NATO Strategies for De-escalating the Regional Conflict
9:30 - 9:40 QC President’s Welcome.
9:40 – 9:45 Welcome on behalf of the APA, Dr. Nadi
10:00 - 10:50 Keynote Address: Dr. Ramazan Bashardost
11:00 – 12:30 Panel Discussion I: U.S.and NATO Strategies for De-escalating the Regional Conflict
12:30 - 1:15 BREAK - LUNCH
1:30 - 3:00 Panel Discussion II: Re-Building Afghanistan: Economy and its Institutions
3:15 - 4:30 Panel Discussion III: The Case for Withdrawal and Exit Strategy for the U.S./NATO from Afghanistan.
Dr. Christian Parenti, Professor Jawied Nawabi, Dr. Ann Jones, Mr. Sameer Dossani
4:45 – 5:00 Closing Remarks: Dr. Dawer A. Nadi
Overview:
Too few Americans remember that the War on Terror first began in Afghanistan in 2001. Today, Afghanistan has been put away in the back of our minds due to the war in Iraq, the financial crisis, and the presidential elections. The insurgency, insecurity and poverty are increasing by the day in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Afghanistan ranks number seven in the world’s most critical states; is facing a severe food shortage, has a broken and corrupt political system, and a dysfunctional infrastructure that is vulnerable to fall into the hands of extremist forces. Afghanistan does not have the leadership or the capability to provide its approximately 32 million people with basic social services such as food, security, water, electricity, housing and jobs; amenities that we take for granted in the developed countries we live in, such as the United States. Above all, with the current Karzai Government, Afghanistan seems to have been incapable of implementing progressive policies which seek the betterment of Afghan society and economy, making it evermore difficult to becoming a sustainable state which is free from foreign occupation.
This stands as a curious and puzzling problem for the Afghan intelligentsia in the Diaspora residing in America, especially in Flushing Queens, where the largest Afghan population in New York City resides. We believe it is incumbent upon us, with our panel speakers' expertise and knowledge, to start a discourse and provide the leadership that is lacking in directing Afghanistan on a confident route towards self-governance, sound economic policy making, and building resilient social institutions.
Through the conference we hope to gather the prominent leaders in the Afghan Diaspora to engage in public discourse with students, professors and ordinary Afghans to whom the desire for peace and prosperity for their homeland is very close to their hearts. This conference would strengthen the Afghan20community’s unity while educating the community on the problems facing Afghanistan and how they can be resolved. Furthermore, in holding the conference we can raise awareness as well as provide possible policy recommendations to the Afghan government and the international community on what we believe should be the direction Afghanistan ought to embark on.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS’ BIO:
Hon. Dr. Ramazan Bashardost, prominent Member of Parliament of Afghanistan, former Minister of Economic Planning (2004-05), currently an Independent candidate for 2009 Afghanistan’s Presidential Elections
Min. Ali Ahmad Jalali, prominent Afghan-American author and former Afghan Interior Minister, Distinguished Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies of the National Defense University.
Dr. Ved Pratap Vaidik, Chairman of the Indian Foreign Relations Council
Ambassador Waheed Waheedulah, currently holds the membership of International Academy of Dialogue Among Cultures and Civilizations based in Warsaw. He is also a member of the International Academy of Emerging Markets based in New York. Among many of his accomplishments, he has developed and designed the Bonn Agreement on Afghanistan, and developed and designed a new peace initiative for a comprehensive political settlement of the Afghan Conflict.
Dr. Ann Jones, After 9/11 she went to Afghanistan, where she worked as a humanitarian volunteer on and off for four years, teaching Afghan high school English teachers, documenting the cases of women detained in prison, and advocating for women’s rights. She wrote about her experiences there in Kabul in Winter: Life without Peace in Afghanistan (2006)
Prof. Jawied Nawabi, professor of economics and sociology at CUNY BCC, independent, member Afghanistan Peace Association (APA)
Ms. Fariba Nawa, an award-winning Afghan-American journalist Her work has appeared in the Sunday Times of London, The Village Voice, The Christian Science Monitor and other publications. She also reports for Agence France-Presse and National Public Radio (NPR). Her essays have been published in two books, March to War and Women for Afghan Women.
Dr. Christian Parenti, correspondent for the Nation Magazine and author of the new book, The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations. Currently in the process of writing a new book on Afghanistan.
Dr. Ashraf Ghani, Director of the Institute for State Effectiveness. Former Minister of Finance for Afghanistan (2002-2004). Currently, running for President of Afghanistan 2009
Mr. Sameer Dossani, Director of 50 Years in Enough. Political Commentator, author of The Case for Withdrawal from Afghanistan, published in online journal, Foreign Policy in Focus
Ms. Fahima Vorgetts, Board member of Women for Afghan Women and director of the Afghan Women's Fund. She is also an honorary member of Afghanistan Organization for Human Rights and Environmental Protection. She served as a consultant for two books dealing with Afghan women, Women For Afghan Women: Shattering Myths and Reclaiming the Future, edited by Sunita Mehta and Behind the Burqa, by Batya Swift Yasgur, a memoir of two Afghan sisters.
Ms. Kathleen Foster, director of Afghan Women: A History of Struggle.
Ms. Kathleen Foster, director of Afghan Women: A History of Struggle.
Dr. Fawzia Afzal Khan, professor of English at Montclair State University, New Jersey. Her most recent book is The Pre-Occupation of Postcolonial Studies, co-edited with Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks (Duke University Press, 2000). She is currently completing her third book, Alternative 'Street' Theatre and the Women's Movement in Contemporary Pakistan and Its U.S. Diaspora, of which this essay is a part, and is working on a memoir, Sahelian: Growing Up with Girlfriends, Pakistani-Style.
Dr. Bahaudin G. Mujtaba, author of Privatization and Mar ket based Leadership in Developing Economies: Capacity Building in Afghanistan. Currently a Department Chair and an Associate Professor of Management, Human Resources Management, and International Management. Bahaudin has been serving as a faculty member at the Huizenga School since 1996.
Ms. Sonali Kolhatkar and James Ingalls - author of Bleeding Afghanistan; co-directors of the Afghan Women’s Mission
Mr. Mohauddin Taeb, former secretary to the Afghan Permanent Mission to the UN.
Dr. Dawer A Nadi, Founder and President of Afghanistan Peace Association. A long time activist in the Afghan community in New York, Dr. Nadi is a graduate of New York University Dental School and a seasoned social advocate for the Afghan community in the US. He has travelled extensively to Afghanistan and is an expert on Afghan politics.
OXFAM
Contact Phone: 718-997-5000
Directions: http://www.qc.cuny.edu/about/
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