Strategic dialogues

The participants of the Atlantic Council / Rockefeller Brothers Fund Strategic Dialogues have been working for the past eight months to develop a long-term strategic outlook to promote stability in Afghanistan consistent with Afghan, US, and European interests and values. This group of distinguished European, American, and Afghan diplomats, military officers, scholars, and analysts brought to our deliberations a deep understanding of the context both on the ground and among the allies. We explored a diplomatic-security framework based on the minimal conditions and variables necessary to realize a long-term vision of a sovereign, unified, democratic, peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan and generated recommendations to support this vision.

Flagship report

Illicit Networks-Zaranj

In-Depth Research & Reports

Jul 15, 2020

Strategies for reforming Afghanistan’s illicit networks

By Harris Samad and Fatima Salman

Authored in-house and advised upon by senior fellows Ambassador James B. Cunningham, Ambassador Omar Samad, Marika Theros, Javid Ahmad, and Fatemeh Aman, this report explores illicit networks in Afghanistan in the context of peacebuilding, democratic consolidation, and enhancing state capacity. It concludes by outlining several specific policy recommendations that will be necessary to combat the illicit networks in a manner that supports the durability of the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan and the continued consolidation of its fragile democratic institutions.

Afghanistan Arms Control

The South Asia Center (SAC) is the hub for the Atlantic Council’s analysis of the political, social, geographical, and cultural diversity of the region. ​

At the intersection of South Asia and its geopolitics, SAC cultivates dialogue to shape policy and forge ties between the region and the global community.

Content

In the News

Dec 7, 2023

Asat quoted in The China Project on Uyghurs in Afghanistan

By Atlantic Council

Afghanistan China

New Atlanticist

Oct 5, 2023

Gender apartheid is a horror. Now the United Nations can make it a crime against humanity. 

By Gissou Nia

The international community has an opportunity to codify the crime of gender apartheid in the United Nations’ crimes against humanity treaty. Learn more about gender apartheid from the Atlantic Council’s Gissou Nia.

Afghanistan Education

In the News

Aug 18, 2023

Plitsas quoted in Stars and Stripes on US veterans supporting Afghan resettlement

By Atlantic Council

Afghanistan Civil Society

Report

Aug 16, 2023

Digital identities and border cultures: The limits of technosolutionism in the management of human mobility

By Nanjala Nyabola

A paper to better inform the conversation around technology’s impact on democracy by evaluating technosolutionism and its application to the management of human mobility.

Afghanistan Africa

New Atlanticist

Aug 14, 2023

Afghanistan’s next generation must rise above the Taliban’s ‘reality’

By Nasir Andisha

The Taliban are not and never were an acceptable alternative to a democratic state in a pluralistic society such as Afghanistan. 

Afghanistan Civil Society

IranSource

Jul 7, 2023

Iran and Afghanistan are feuding over the Helmand River. The water wars have no end in sight.

By Holly Dagres

Fatemeh Aman, a non-resident senior fellow at MEI, on why the Islamic Republic and Taliban are bumping heads on transboundary water issues.

Afghanistan Climate Change & Climate Action

Issue Brief

Jun 29, 2023

How to advance women’s rights in Afghanistan

By Roya Rahmani

Providing Afghan women with rights and opportunities must be at the top of the regional and global security agenda.

Afghanistan Civil Society

In the News

Jun 4, 2023

Hakimi quoted in Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: The limits Of China’s budding relationship with Afghanistan’s Taliban

By Atlantic Council

Afghanistan China

In the News

May 29, 2023

Halaimzai & Theros in PeaceRep: Establishing the Afghanistan Research Network

By Atlantic Council

Sahar Halaimzai and Marika Theros recently established The Afghanistan Research Network (ARN) as a first step to preserve, sustain and amplify Afghan expertise and knowledge, and to provide analysis that can inform creative actions in the short-term while helping shape future prospects for a more stable and pluralistic Afghanistan in the long-term. The Afghanistan Research Network aims […]

Afghanistan Freedom and Prosperity

In the News

May 23, 2023

Ahmad in Foreign Policy: It’s time to recognize the Taliban

By Atlantic Council

Afghanistan Democratic Transitions

Experts