7-8 May 2007
Forty-five students from different regions of Afghanistan participated in a two-day workshop in Kabul on 7 and 8 May. The event, which was organised by the international student organization AIESEC, was the first of its kind to be sponsored by NATO's Public Diplomacy Division in the country.
The students were given briefings on a wide range of topics. Some covered different aspects of the development of Afghanistan, such as the political requirements for stability, the role of non-governmental organizations and the private sector, as well as the contribution that young people can make. Another looked at the role of the media in modern societies.
A couple of briefings focused on the evolution of NATO-led operations in Afghanistan and of NATO's wider relationship with the country.
Key speakers included the Afghan Deputy Minister for Information and Culture and an Afghan member of parliament, as well as NATO's Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, his spokesman and a representative of the Headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force.
After the briefings, the students were split up into groups to come up with recommendations on how to resolve key challenges facing Afghanistan, such as: how to increase the confidence of Afghans in the their government; how to replace poppy growing by alternatives; how to increase participation in the Afghan National Army; how to improve the country's relations with its neighbours; and how to reinforce the Afghan national identity?
"These sessions proved extremely fruitful and the debates that followed showed that the students are eager to be involved and to have a voice in the reconstruction of their country," said Nadia Marsan, representative of NATO's Public Diplomacy Division.
