Think tank discuss situation in Afghanistan

Islamabad : The Embassy of Japan and Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) jointly organised a webinar titled “Afghanistan and South Asia” on Friday to deliberate upon the various perspectives concerning existing situation in Afghanistan as well as to exchange views and knowledge on other subjects of regional and international interest.

AOKI Kenta, Research Fellow, Middle East Institute of Japan, and Kasai Ryohei, Visiting Researcher, Center for South Asian Studies, Gifu Women’s University, Japan, were speakers from Japan.

Mr. AOKI deliberated upon “Resurgence of Taliban and Its Implications to Japan and Pakistan” whereas Mr. KASAI spoke on “Japan’s Efforts in South Asia in an Age of SDGs, Pakistan’s Development Potential and Geostrategic Opportunities, Japan’s Role in Pakistan’s Comprehensive Development”.

The speakers from Pakistani side included Amb (r) Asif Durrani, Senior Research Fellow IPRI, who spoke on topic “Post-Taliban Afghanistan”, Dr. Maria Saifuddin Effendi, Asst Professor, Peace & Conflict Studies, NDU, Islamabad, covered “Pakistan-India Relations and Kashmir”, whereas Rafiullah Kakar, CPEC/PPP Unit, Government of Balochistan lectured on “Regional Connectivity and CPEC”.

Haroon Sharif, Former Minister of State & Chairman Board of Investment, Ex-Regional Advisor to World Bank Group for South and Central Asia and Abubakar Siddique, Senior Correspondent covering Pakistan and Afghanistan for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) also joined the webinar as discussants.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Pakistan, the organisers said the webinar would help promote and develop not only intellectual exchange between the two countries but would also contribute towards further enhancing mutual understanding and exchange of information and knowledge on issues of regional and global importance.