Top academics get to assess progress in Afghanistan first hand

This was the 21st “Transatlantic Opinion Leaders to Afghanistan” (TOLA) trip to Afghanistan organised by NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division. These trips are aimed at giving analysts, researchers and other academics of ISAF troop-contributing nations, who closely follow the situation in Afghanistan and NATO’s ISAF mission, a chance to see for themselves all the different aspects of the ISAF mission.

“The TOLA tour provides a unique opportunity to get a deeper understanding what has recently happened in Afghanistan and how developments are going to unfold during the coming months,” says Markus Kaim of the Berlin-based German Institute for International and Security Affairs (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik).

The TOLA programme also includes other aspects of the international efforts to help Afghanistan to become a more stable, secure and democratic state, with a particular focus on governance and development activities.

“The TOLA members get a comprehensive yet nuanced picture of views and opinions in the country, of what has been accomplished in Afghanistan and what remains to be done,” adds Kaim. It was Kaim’s second TOLA experience. This time, he was one of a group that included academics from Australia, Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Getting access

TOLA proceedings are held under “Chatham House rules”, meaning that the confidentiality of the source of information received at a meeting must be respected. This allows people to speak as individuals and to express views that may not be those of their organisations, encouraging openness and the sharing of information.

“For an academic, it is almost impossible to participate at closed meetings, briefings and round-table with high-level stakeholders, both at military and political level in Afghanistan,” explains Riccardo Redaelli of the Political and Social Science Faculty of the Catholic University of Milan, Italy.

Before their arrival in theatre, the TOLA participants spent one day at NATO Headquarters, where they discussed the strategic aspects of the NATO-led ISAF campaign.

In Kabul, they met Afghan government officials, parliamentarians, representatives of Afghan civil society, the Kabul Military Training Center, the NATO Senior Civilian Representative Office, the ISAF command, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the European Union Mission, and the NATO Training Mission to Afghanistan.

The academics spent one overnight stay at Regional Command West in Herat, where the Italian contingent briefed the group on the security situation, the state of transition to Afghan security lead, and the work of the Italian Provincial Reconstruction Team in furthering development and good governance projects in the region.

While in Herat province, the group was also introduced to all different parts of the Afghan National Security Forces in the newly-established and fully Afghan-led Operational Coordination Center. It is from this Center that Afghan forces – with ongoing ISAF advice and support – are increasingly leading, coordinating and deconflicting all ongoing security operations in the province.

Gaining insight

“The TOLA provides the analyst/commentator with situational awareness through in-theatre access to key stakeholders and a high degree of granularity regarding the rapidly evolving nature of the ISAF campaign and circumstances on the ground in Afghanistan that cannot otherwise be attained in the public domain external to the area of operations,” says Raspal Khosa, an independent defence analyst with the University of South Australia, Adelaide. He is something of a TOLA veteran, this being his fourth TOLA trip since 2006.

The trip highlighted the crucial period Afghanistan now faces, with political, security and economic transitions all happening in the next few years. The academics were impressed by the progress achieved over the last few years in all these areas and by how different Afghanistan is now, compared to 2001. However, they also emphasised that developments in the next two years will show whether these gains are truly irreversible.

Giving his overall impressions of the trip, Redaelli concluded that “It has allowed me to partially reframe in a more positive way my previous perspective of the strategic and political situation in the region, as well as the effectiveness of ISAF’s current policy.”

“TOLA offers this unique opportunity without pressuring scholars and analysts 'to adopt' the NATO vision and perspective, and without limiting in any way our personal opinions and perspective,” adds Redaelli.