Foreign Service Officers Briefed on Threats to Afghanistan’s Stability
Political Counselor Ashraf Haidari addressed junior US Foreign Service Officers at the Department of State Foreign Service Institute on October 16, 2006. Haidari discussed key security challenges facing Afghanistan and how the country could overcome them with international assistance. “Weak state institutions, Pakistan-based Taliban insurgency, and drug trafficking and terrorism pose the greatest threat to stability in Afghanistan, in the region, and in the world. These same problems were ripping our country in 1990s that culminated to the tragic events of 9/11. These threats reinforce one another and can only be resolved through an integrated strategy with adequate resources,” Haidari said.
He reminded the junior diplomats that Afghanistan had been a least developed country in the first place before the Soviet invasion in 1979. “We had just begun strengthening our modern state institutions when the Soviets invaded, and the conflicts of the past 25 years negated our one-century state-building achievements. Now, no one should expect that Afghanistan can be rebuilt overnight or without firm political commitment and resources from our international partners, Haidari said. “Threats to Afghanistan’s stability are no longer local but global. What happens in Afghanistan has a direct impact on the rest of the international community,” he added. Haidari advised the junior diplomats, who would be posted in the Middle East or Central Asia, to think regionally and globally to understand today’s interlinked security problems in the world. “That would serve the interests of all of us,” Haidari concluded.
