State Building and Security in Afghanistan and the Region

Abstract

Recommendations in this report focus on state building and pressing security concerns in Afghanistan and the region. They address the urgent need for establishing security and building of state and society which are closely interconnected, and note that solutions have to be holistic. Underscoring the intertwined nature of security building and state building, delivery of immediate and effective international financial assistance to both security and state-building endeavors is stressed, especially related to the international community delivering promised assistance and devoting greater resources to building Afghanistan’s policing and military capacity in order to meet the needs for fair and free elections in June 2004. The recommendations note that Afghanistan is a sovereign state, and the international community can only offer its assistance to Afghanistan in order to become a fully viable member of the international community. The recommendations were the product of discussions undertaken as part of a colloquium sponsored by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination at Princeton University in October 2003.