Ambassador Grossman Previews International Afghanistan Conference
Update: Secretary Clinton Travels to Germany, Lithuania, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands | U.S. Mission to Germany -- Afghanistan Conference
Ambassador Marc Grossman, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will participate in the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn, Germany on December 5, 2011. The conference will focus on the future of Afghanistan after 2014 and on the long-term engagement of the international community in Afghanistan.
In the above video previewing the conference, Ambassador Grossman says, "... One very important thing, I think, that people will see as well, is an increased emphasis on the private sector, on foreign direct investment, on Afghans making economic decisions for themselves. In fact, you can tell one of the themes...is more Afghan decision-making, more Afghan sustainability, more Afghan-led peace process, more Afghanistan in the lead of all of these issues after 2014."
Afghanistan will preside over the Bonn Conference, which will be hosted by Germany. The conference will be streamed live on the German Federal Foreign Office website, where you can learn more about the conference.
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Posted under: South and Central Asia
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Tags: Afghanistan (127) | Germany (36) | SRAP (105) |
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U.S. Mission to Germany Webmaster writes:
The U.S. delegation to the conference is supported by the U.S. Mission to Germany; we maintain a conference web page at
http://germany.usembassy.gov/policy/afghanistan/.
Posted on Mon Dec 05, 2011
Ashim C. in India writes:
One wishes this conference all success. One hope post 2014, Afghanistan emerges strong politically and economically and serves as a bechmark of all round progress for countries in the region to emulate. For this to happen, development of Afghanistan has to be so fast and so visible to all the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan that they so intensely begin to enjoy their prosperity that they leave behind their differences.
Prosperity unites people the best not rivalry among nations to benefit themselves in sharing the develpment efforts after 2014. It is, however, frankly very difficult to detach natural commercial interests of nations particularly US and other NATO forces and Pakistan, who have been sacrificing their resources to defeat fundamentalism and terrorism in Afpak region.
Countries like China and India, which have practically done little to help war against terrorism in this region. As far as India is concerned it's major danger is that mercenaries in Afpak region can can spill over into India unless they are properly rehabilitated, which is not possible without their ideological reform, conference must create a monitoring mechanism to monitor these processes. Allibis for a flare up in the region exist and need not be discovered and those flares can well be at the cost of India because there are vested interest in the region itself, which want the region to keep burning and bleeding India by forcing wasteful defense expenditure upon India. India should have participated more actively in the war against terrorism and fundamentalism in Afpak region with NATO forces and remain engaged there in peacekeeping to counter China Pak designs against India's progress.
If the opportunity comes for that, India should take it under an internationally supported arrangement and should not shy away under pretension.Afpak war against fundamentalism and terrorism is an opportunity lost for India. Nevertheless one hopes India too beefits strtegically if not commercially from the conference formulatiins.
Posted on Mon Dec 05, 2011