Skapto 3 construction begins
Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy Ahmad Sidiq DlirPhotos by Radina Efremova
Paving the way towards peace
By Edlira Dashi
December 2, 2008
The Afghani people would stretch the hand for help given to them from anywhere- Dlir
The Peace Initiative Club at AUBG organized the Afghanistan Day on Thursday, November 27, inviting officials from the Afghanistan Embassy in Sofia.
The series of events started with the opening of a photo exhibition called “Streets of Kabul” by Anastasiya Hozyainova, a social worker in Kabul, who has worked on protection and human rights issues in Central Asia, the UK, and the US. Charge d’Affaires of the Afghanistan Embassy Ahmad Sidiq Dlir complimented the initiative as an attempt to popularize the Afghan culture. This was the first time that Dlir attended activities of this type, and he said he wishes to see many Afghan students come and study at AUBG.
The exhibition was followed by the screening of the documentary The Day after Peace and a follow-up Q&A session. During the discussion with AUBG students and faculty, Dlir said that Afghanistan cannot have peace without education and economic development. The major problems today are drug trafficking and terrorism, and they are not native to Afghanistan, but rather, imported from outside its borders, he added.
“The terrorists are educated and raised outside the borders of Afghanistan [and] the economy of drugs is associated with terrorism,” Dlir said. A number of the terrorists who escaped from Iraq entered Afghanistan, and even though the Taliban are encountering losses, they are still focused on individual attacks which cannot be easily predicted. The long borderline with Pakistan makes it harder to control every point so the rebels are concentrated there, Dlir said. “At this point, the Afghan armed forces are not equipped and trained enough to fight against them,” he added.
Dlir admitted that there is no military solution to the problems Afghanistan faces. “The state is looking forward to dialogue,” he added, pointing out the need to negotiate with the moderate Taliban and the other groups who accept the Afghan constitution. The negotiations are hindered by the lack of a unitary leadership of these groups who do not have defined political aims to put forward, he said.
Dlir said he deemed the role of international organizations in Afghanistan as crucial. “The [Afghan] state cannot fight on its own. It is thanks to the international community that the parliament, the constitution and a functional government have been established in Afghanistan, Dlir said.
“The Afghan people would stretch the hand for help given to them from anywhere,” he added. Considering US a strategic friend of Afghanistan and a major state providing economic support, Dlir said that it is important for the great powers to reach understanding among each other. There is need for improvements in infrastructure and coordination of the international organizations operating in Afghanistan, he added. “Nevertheless, the major force is our own force. It will not take long until the government of Afghanistan will stand on its own.”
Student Amanda Orza said she followed closely all the activities during the Afghanistan Day and she liked the documentary best. “The Q&A with the Afghan [official] didn't help much since he was very diplomatic and went around some of the questions," she added.
