Afghanistan’s immediate post-war future looks bleak. The economy is collapsing, and the financial system is bankrupt. The country is faced with a humanitarian crisis that threatens to release a massive Afghan refugee surge. International relief assistance may become available but seems likely to be too late and inadequate to meet the country’s needs. Afghanistan’s new rulers also appear ill prepared to assume the task of governing a diverse society. How they will govern, whether with the rigidities and harshness of the past or with some measure of liberality, remains uncertain. At least the rapid dissolution of the republic’s government spared Afghanistan a nasty, protracted civil war as in the 1990s. Peace and political stability in Afghanistan can enable its region to realize long-standing ambitions for greater economic connectivity. Also, to be determined is whether Afghanistan is to become a nesting place for militant Islamic movements that, inspired by the Taliban’s success, will be able to carry insurgency to neighboring states and launch terrorism on a global scale.
Arguably, no state has more at stake in what course Afghanistan follows than does Pakistan. The Middle East Institute (MEI) is honored to host National Security Advisor to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, Moeed Yousuf, to provide what may come next in Afghanistan.
Speakers:
Moeed Yusuf
National Security Advisor to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan
Before joining the government, Moeed was the Associate Vice President for Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace. He was previously a Fellow at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and concurrently a Research Fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He is the author/editor of multiple books. His latest book, Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments: U.S. Crisis Management in South Asia, was released by Stanford University Press in May 2018.
Marvin Weinbaum, moderator
Director, Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies, MEI
Marvin G. Weinbaum is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and served as analyst for Pakistan and Afghanistan in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research from 1999 to 2003. He is currently director for Afghanistan and Pakistan Studies at The Middle East Institute. At Illinois, Dr. Weinbaum served for fifteen years as the director of the Program in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. His research, teaching, and consultancies have focused on the issues of national security, state building, democratization, and political economy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is the author or editor of six books and has written more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.
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