On Wedesday 11 February 2009, Russian News Agency RIA Novosti in cooperation with the International Institute of Strategic Studies held an expert video-link roundtable between Moscow and London on the topic of the '20th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan and its lessons for the current NATO operations'.
Twenty years ago the Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan after, a decade earlier, they entered the country to establish a more manageable regime. As the decade milestone starts looming for the Operation Enduring Freedom, the news of continuing casualties, both on the side of the civilian population and the allied forces, keep on coming to the headlines. The new US administration has pledged to shift the focus of the US military machine from Iraq to Afghanistan and urged its European Allies to step up the effort to resolve the issue of securing a durable and effective pro-Western government in Kabul while safeguarding peace elsewhere on the Afghan territory.
Do the Americans and their European Allies have a chance to succeed in “the graveyard of empires”? May the issue of the UK troops withdrawal one day come up on the agenda following the retreat from Basra later this year? What are the US and NATO going to do to secure the logistics to the region following the announcement of a possible closure of the key US airbase in Manas? Russia was key on the early stages of the war assisting the alignment of the Northern Alliance with the US and their Allies as well as providing logistical support. How can its role can be boosted in the currently appearing challenges? And should it?
These and many more questions were discussed by:
In London:
Oksana Antonenko, Senior Fellow and Head of Russia and Eurasia Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She works on Central Asia and Afghanistan and in 2008 organised major international conference in Tajikistan on Afghanistan and its neighbours with participation of experts from all regional states. She also took part in conference on Afghanistan in Central Asia, Iran and Pakistan. You may find more on Oksana’s background here: http://www.iiss.org/about-us/staffexpertise/list-experts-by-name/oksana-antonenko
Daniel Korski, Senior Policy Fellow European Council on Foreign Relation. He spent the first quarter of 2007 in Basra in southern Iraq as Head of the UK/US Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). Prior to his US posting, Daniel was the Deputy Head of the UK's Post-Conflict Reconstruction Unit (PCRU), an inter-departmental organization set-up up by the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign Office and Department for International Development. Daniel has also worked in Afghanistan as a Policy Adviser to the Minister for Counter-Narcotics. His bio http://ecfr.eu/content/profile/C22/. His recent report on Afghanistan can be found on http://www.ecfr.eu/content/entry/commentary_afghanistan_report/.
Dr. Antonio Giustozzi, Research Fellow at Crisis States Research Center at the London School of Economics. Expert on Afghanistan, Antonio did research on Soviet Experience in Afghanistan. His profile can be found at http://www2.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExpertise/Experts/a.Giustozzi@lse.ac.uk
In Moscow:
Ruslan Aushev, Chairman of CIS Committee of the Warriors Served Abroad the USSR, was a president of Ingushetia in 1993-2001. He received the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1982, served in Afganistan, was wounded there in 1986. He was the youngest officer of the Soviet Army to reach the rank of Lieutenant General. He served in a Federation Council – the upper House Russian Parliament – in 1993-2003. His profile can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruslan_Aushev
Dr.Victor Korgun, Doctor of Historical Sciences and Chief of the Afghanistan Department at the Institute of Oriental studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, one of the leading international experts on the contemporary Afghanistan. The list of his monographs on Afghanistan can be found at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Victor_Korgun
Alexander Umnov, Senior Fellow at the Institution of World Economy and International Affairs of the Russian Academy of Sciences, expert in contemporary Afghanistan, an author of many works on Afghanistan
Ljatif Bahand, Press Attaché and Attaché on Culture of the Afghanistan Embassy in Russia
The event took place at RIA Novosti London Bureau at 3 Rosary Gardens, SW7 4NW on Wednesday, 11 February at 9.00.
For more information please contact as below:
Irina Demchenko,
Deputy Editor-in-Chief
UK Bureau Chief
RIA Novosti (Russian News Agency)
Mobile 077 7168 7455
Office 020 7370 1162
E-mail: irina@novosti.co.uk
