Lakhdar Brahimi and Thomas Pickering to Chair International Task Force on Afghanistan

Mar 24, 2010

Authors: TCF

Publisher(s): The Century Foundation

March 24th, 2010 NYC-Lakhdar Brahimi, the former United Nations special

representative for Afghanistan, and Thomas Pickering, former U.S. undersecretary of

State and ambassador to the United Nations, are chairing a new international task force

on Afghanistan in its regional and multilateral dimensions, The Century Foundation

announced today.

The task force is at the center of a project that The Century Foundation is undertaking to

examine ways the international community can more effectively assist Afghanistan 's

transition from a war-ridden failed state to a fragile but reasonably peaceful one. The

project will focus particularly on the concerns and involvement of countries in the

region in Afghanistan's crises and on the roles of the United Nations and other

multilateral agencies in achieving solutions.

"Afghanistan has made fair progress since the 2001 Bonn conference, with crucial help

from a number of countries and the United Nations," said Ambassador Brahimi. "Yet

the persistent insurgency underscores the limitations of the constitutional order in

Afghanistan currently and the lack of common purpose among its neighbors in dealing

with these conflicts."

The task force--composed equally of international and American figures who have had

significant governmental, nongovernmental, or U.N. experience in the region--will guide

the Project.

"The United States has been a principal driver of international efforts in Afghanistan

since Al Qaeda's 2001 attacks," said Ambassador Pickering. "Our partners have

responded favorably to President Obama's changes to U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, and

his call for a strategic reassessment early next year. We hope our efforts can contribute

constructively to that reassessment."

The task force will be informed by analytical papers commissioned of internationally

recognized experts will produce. It plans by early 2011 to make its own

recommendations for action by the international community that can sustainably

advance peace in the country.

"Our task force hopes to recommend ways in which the conflicts can be resolved and

Afghanistan's neighbors harnessed together with the U.N. to underpin a durable peace,"

Brahimi added.

The project is unique in that it looks beyond the military effort in the region. "While

many other organizations are looking at counterinsurgency as the answer in

Afghanistan, we are looking at multilateral dimensions of the conflict's prospective

solution," says Century Foundation president Richard C. Leone.

This Century Foundation project is supported by senior fellow Jeffrey Laurenti and

fellow Michael Wahid Hanna, and is funded in part by a generous grant from the

Carnegie Corporation of New York. Click here to visit the project's web site. For more

information, contact Zaina Arafat at arafat@tcf.org or by phone at (212) 452-7713 or at

(347) 751-4696.

The full International Task Force on Afghanistan in its Regional and Multilateral Dimensions Task Force List.