In light of the London conference on Afghanistan, GMF has compiled its Afghanistan-related events, multimedia, and publications. Please click the links below to see what GMF has contributed to the policy debate over the past several years. 

NATO's future discussed as 60th anniversary approaches
March 3, 2009 - Brussels, Belgium
On March 3, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Center for Transatlantic Relations at John Hopkins University hosted a conference launching the joint report "Alliance Reborn: An Atlantic Compact for the 21st Century" highlighting the state of NATO and the future transatlantic relationship in light of its 60th anniversary.

The seven capital sins of the donor community in Afghanistan
February 17, 2009 - Washington, DC
On February 17, GMF hosted Serge Michailof, lecturer at Sciences Po, Paris, and former executive director of operations at the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) for a discussion on his policy brief entitled, "The Seven Capital Sins of the Donor Community in Afghanistan - What Went Wrong in the Security Development Nexus, and What Should be the Lessons for U.S. Foreign Assistance?"

Afghan governors express need for more humanitarian effort and aid
December 15, 2008 - Brussels, Belgium
On December 15, GMF and the U.S. Mission to NATO organized a discussion in Brussels with H.E. Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, governor of Kunar province in Afghanistan, and H.E Halim Fedaiee, governor of Maydan Wardak province in Afghanistan, as guest speakers.

Transatlantic approaches to post-conflict management
October 31, 2008 - Washington, DC
On October 31, GMF hosted Frank Kupferschmidt, senior research associate of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, and Peter Schmidt, visiting professor of the Royal Military College of Canada, to present the results of their research project "Transatlantic approaches to post-conflict management," funded by GMF. John Glenn, director of foreign policy at GMF, moderated the discussion.

Germany's role in Afghanistan: Prospects for 2009 under a new mandate
October 20, 2008 - Washington, DC
On October 20, GMF's Washington office hosted a discussion on "Germany's role in Afghanistan: Prospects for 2009 under a new mandate" with GMF Transatlantic Fellow Till Knorn and Jeremy Shapiro of the Brookings Institution. Participants agreed that, despite the Bundestag's approval of a renewed mandate for German troops in Afghanistan, the mission remains as contentious as ever in German politics and will only become more so as the elections of 2009 approach.

Volker delivers debut ambassadorial speech
September 29, 2008 - Brussels, Belgium
On Sept. 29, Kurt Volker delivered his first public address in Brussels as the United States Ambassador to NATO. In the speech to a GMF-assembled audience of diplomats, scholars, and policymakers, the former United States deputy assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian affairs outlined his organizing principles for a modern NATO.

Russia, Afghanistan panels from Bucharest Conference featured in three-part radio series
June 7, 2008 - Bucharest, Romania
From April 1-3, GMF held the Bucharest Conference, a three day gathering with panel discussions featuring leaders surrounding the role of NATO in the international community. The conference was held alongside the official 2008 NATO Summit in Bucharest and provided a forum for leading policymakers, opinion leaders, scholars, and business people from both sides of the Atlantic to discuss the most pressing issues facing NATO and the international community.

Khalilzad discusses future of Afghanistan and the role of the international community
April 25, 2008 - Washington, DC
On April 25, GMF hosted Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for a discussion on the future of Afghanistan and the role of the international community. In a conversation with German journalist Klaus-Peter Siegloch of ZDF Television, Khalilzad expressed confidence in current multilateral efforts in Afghanistan and reaffirmed American support for new UN Special Representative Kai Eide.

The Bucharest Conference – “NATO in Afghanistan: Success not in Sight, Failure not an Option”
April 2, 2008 - Bucharest, Romania
Participants included Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. The panel was moderated by BBC World presenter and correspondent Lyse Doucet.
Download Transcript (.pdf)

Bush, Karzai, Harper bring NATO debates to the Bucharest Conference
April 1, 2008 - Bucharest, Romania
The Bucharest Conference featured addresses by U.S. President George W. Bush, Romanian President Traian Băsescu, Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu, and Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, as well as other panel discussions on pressing NATO issues such as enlargement, missile defense, and Russia. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer discussed alliance operations in Afghanistan.

Brussels Forum 2008 – “Afghanistan: What Is Success and How Do We Get There?”
March 16, 2008 - Brussels, Belgium
Speakers at the event included Afghan Education Minister Haneef Atmar, NATO Military Committee Deputy Chairman Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry, Canadian Defense Minister Peter MacKay, and German Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee Member Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg. The event was moderated by Steven Erlanger of the New York Times.

NATO in Afghanistan - A challenge to transatlantic burden sharing
March 3, 2008 - Washington, DC
On March 3, GMF hosted a discussion entitled "NATO in Afghanistan: A challenge to transatlantic burden sharing," featuring Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Volker, German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, and Canadian Deputy Head of Mission Guy Saint-Jacques. GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellow Michael Polt moderated the discussion.

Lessons from Afghanistan: Rebuilding post-conflict states
August 30, 2007 - Washington, DC
As part of its continuing "Innovations in Aid Series", on August 30, 2007, GMF hosted a breakfast discussion on the role of the private sector in rebuilding post-conflict states focusing on Afghanistan as a case study. The panel featured Jamelle McCampbell, Coordinator of Stabilization and Reconstruction of Afghanistan at the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, and Stanley Byers, Director of the Global Fairness Initiative. The event was moderated by Jonathan White, Program Officer at GMF.

CSU Bundestag leader discusses transatlantic relations, NATO, and missile defense
July 13, 2007 - Washington, DC
On July 13, GMF hosted CSU Bundestag Leader Dr. Peter Ramsauer for a presentation and discussion on transatlantic cooperation. The event touched on a wide range of issues important on both sides of the Atlantic, from the NATO mission in Afghanistan to the United States' proposed missile defense system.

Brussels Forum 2007 – “Can We Still Win in Afghanistan? And What is a Win?”
April 28, 2007 - Brussels, Belgium
The goal to establish and sustain a stable, democratic government and prevent a break-up or armed conflict between the different ethnic groups in Afghanistan is held back by the slow progress of civilian reconstruction. Is the goal for the engagement in Afghanistan – the establishment of a strong central government and a stable democracy – attainable, or will the winning scenario have to be redefined? How can the support of the local population be regained and the stability and reach of the central government in Afghanistan be strengthened?

U.S. envoy to NATO outlines priorities in first public address
September 22, 2005 - Brussels, Belgium
NATO should develop further its capacity to train security forces in global hotspots, but is “woefully underfunded” to accomplish that and other priorities, said Ambassador Victoria Nuland, the United States permanent representative to NATO, in her first public address in Brussels.


POLICY AND OPINION BRIEFS:

A Fundamentally Flawed Afghan Policy
James Kunder
Halifax Forum Paper Series
November 2009
The key flaw in the current allied policy in Afghanistan is the obsessive focus on defeating the Taliban rather than focusing on the real problems of illiteracy, social deprivation, and rural feudalism of which the Taliban are really an epiphenomenon. Policymakers must also put aside misleading analogies with Iraq, however tempting they may be, and consider Afghanistan in its own domestic context.

Strengthening Transatlantic Policy Coherence in Fragile States: Afghanistan as a Laboratory for Solutions
Olivier Ray and Jonathan M. White
GMF Policy Brief
August 19, 2009
The Afghan presidential elections taking place this Thursday, August 20, are fraught with challenges. Alongside the U.S. administration's renewed focus on the region and the upcoming renegotiation of UNAMA's mandate, they present opportunities and risks for the people of Afghanistan as well as the international community. Will these three milestones mark a departure from the past, and help set a new course? Leaders in the United States and Europe recognize that a policy shift is required, but change is slow to materialize.

“Af-Pak”, Obama's Strategy For Afghanistan and Pakistan
Daniel Twining
Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales (FAES)
July 2009
State weakness that enables terrorists to find sanctuary in Pakistan and Afghanistan poses a direct danger to Europeans and Americans. Terrorist attacks in Western capitals on both sides of the Atlantic emanated from ungoverned territories thousands of kilometers away in South and Central Asia, and terrorists continue to plot new attacks.

No Development Without Security
Jonathan M. White
Brussels Forum Paper Series
March 2009
The economic crisis continues to wreak havoc globally, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the poor will suffer disproportionally. According to the World Bank, 100 million people were driven into poverty last year. Social tensions and geopolitical risks will be particularly acute in fragile states, impacting security and livelihoods in the Western world just as well.

Engaging Europe on Afghanistan
John K. Glenn and Oliver Mains
GMF Policy Brief
January 27, 2009
The enthusiasm in Europe for the U.S. election of Barack Obama has raised hopes for progress on a range of issues on the transatlantic agenda, among the most pressing of which is stabilization and reconstruction in Afghanistan. Yet it remains uncertain whether Obama’s personal popularity can or will translate into additional contributions from Europeans, who have deep reservations about the use of force. Public opinion data suggests that the new U.S. administration should pursue a new diplomacy that builds on European support for a range of non-combat missions.

The Seven Capital Sins of the Donor Community in Afghanistan
Serge Michailof
December 9, 2008
The objective of this brief is to help trigger a badly needed reassessment by the new U.S. administration of what has gone wrong in the way the aid effort has been conducted in Afghanistan. It does not focus on the specific U.S. aid effort, but on the international community's development efforts in Afghanistan. It also aims to ensure that the U.S. administration's reflection occurs in the context of efforts to strengthen transatlantic development and security cooperation.

NATO and Afghanistan: Saving the State-Building Enterprise
Daoud Yaqub and William Maley
The Bucharest Conference Papers
April 2008
Published ahead of the Bucharest Conference, the Bucharest Papers are written by independent authors on the topics of NATO's mission in Afghanistan; NATO enlargement; NATO's relationship with Russia; and global cyber defense and NATO.


ARTICLES AND OP-ED PIECES:

What is Obama’s real ‘Exit Strategy’ for Afghanistan? And why it matters to India
Daniel Twining
Foreign Policy
December 4, 2009
One way to judge President Obama's speech announcing (another) new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan is by how it fares among those on the front lines. As one senior official in Kabul puts it in today's Wall Street Journal Asia, "We couldn't solve the Afghanistan problem in eight years, but now the U.S. wants to solve it in 18 months? I don't see how it could be done."

Afghanistan and Pakistan: Time for the Hatoyama Administration to Show Japan’s Latent Power
Daniel Twining
Wedge
November 18, 2009
The challenges of war and state building in Afghanistan, and their implications for the stability of Pakistan, provide an opportunity for the new government in Tokyo to put its distinctive stamp on foreign policy by charting a progressive path for Japan as an active provider of collective goods of peace and security in a rapidly changing international system.

Euro Defense Spending and NATO
Daniel Fata
GlobalBrief
October 20, 2009
This week, NATO defense ministers are meeting in Bratislava for their thrice-annual regular meeting. Topping the agenda will be a discussion about the current status of Allied defense capabilities – specifically, the need to improve and invest in such capabilities.

Now Comes the Hard Part
Karen Donfried and Mitchell B. Reiss
The International Herald Tribune
October 5, 2009
Europe is in love with Barack Obama, according to recent polls. But will this affair of the heart be a brief flirtation or something more enduring? Like many relationships, the partners themselves may not really know until times get tough. With troubles looming in Afghanistan and Iran, that day of reckoning is fast approaching.

The stakes in Afghanistan go well beyond Afghanistan
Daniel Twining
Foreign Policy
September 30, 2009
The problem with the current debate over Afghanistan is that it is too focused on Afghanistan. There is no question that the intrinsic importance of winning wars our country chooses to fight -- to secure objectives that remain as compelling today as they were on September 12, 2001 -- is itself reason for President Obama to put in place a strategy for victory in Afghanistan. But the larger frame has been lost in the din of debate over General McChrystal's leaked assessment, President Obama's intention to ramp up or draw down in Afghanistan, and the legitimacy of the Afghan election.

Our Pakistan Problem
Christian Brose and Daniel Twining
The Weekly Standard
September 14, 2009
What national interest does the United States have in Afghanistan? According to recent polls, more and more Americans doubt there is any--or at least enough to warrant escalation of the war. This flagging support partly reflects the inadequate job the Obama administration has done explaining its goals and strategy in Afghanistan to a skeptical public.

Germany shoots first and thinks again
Constanze Stelzenmüller
Financial Times
September 9, 2009
The night a German army colonel by the name of Georg Klein called in a massive NATO airstrike on two fuel trucks hijacked by Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan was a watershed moment. Although the exact number of casualties is still unknown – estimates suggest more than 50 died – it seems likely that it will prove to have been, as one American newspaper put it, “the most deadly operation involving German forces since World War II.”

China’s Af-Pak Moment
Andrew Small
GMF Asia Program
May 20, 2009
As the United States and Europe look for additional sources of leverage in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a heightened role for China is one of the most promising—and the least discussed. China’s substantial strategic interests in Pakistan, its major investments in both countries, and security concerns that range from narcotics flows to terrorist bases give it many shared stakes with the West.

De-hyphenate Af-Pak
Daniel Twining
Foreign Policy
May 5, 2009
As President Obama hosts the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan in Washington tomorrow and calls on Congress to increase assistance to both countries, his administration can claim credit for regionalizing America's strategy for victory in Afghanistan.

Questions that Obama's Af-Pak strategy doesn't answer
Daniel Twining
Foreign Policy
March 30, 2009
Fellow Republicans have hailed President Obama's new strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. The new administration's strategy is welcome, both for its substance and, as importantly, for the profile it has given to the urgency of defeating the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan and its growing strength in Pakistan. But as with every strategy, it contains trade-offs and shortcomings that, after the warm glow that has accompanied the Washington establishment's reception of the president's plan has worn off, may become more apparent.

Sarkozy's decision ups pressure on Obama
John K. Glenn
GlobalPost
March 14, 2009
When Obama travels to Europe in early April, he will face questions on the economic crisis and about whether Europeans are willing to do more in Afghanistan. Complicating matters is French President Nicolas Sarkozy's announcement that he will bring France back into the military wing of NATO, reversing Charles de Gaulle's decision of 40 years ago.

Don't Dumb Down Afghanistan
Daniel Twining and Gary Schmitt
The Weekly Standard
February 23, 2009
Take, for example, the Obama administration's policy toward Afghanistan. While running for president, Barack Obama promised that help was on its way in the form of thousands of additional troops; now President Obama appears to have put his own promised surge on hold.

Don't move the goalposts on Afghanistan
Daniel Twining
Foreign Policy
January 28, 2009
If Iraq was "Bush's War," Afghanistan may well become "Obama's War." But as the New York Times reports today, the Obama administration is attempting to shift the goalposts in Afghanistan away from building a functioning democracy and toward the limited objective of denying terrorists sanctuary on Afghan soil.

Rethinking NATO Partnerships for the 21st Century
Ronald D. Asmus
NATO Review
April 2008
Alliance members today are unsure and divided over a future common purpose and strategy for NATO. Many of the new strategic challenges we face lie beyond Europe and entail engagement in potentially unstable regions of the world where the Alliance has never trodden.

War or Peace
Constanze Stelzenmüller
Financial Times Deutschland
March 27, 2007
Germany wants to be a "normal" country, with a "normal" foreign policy. But recent debates on the use of force in Afghanistan and on missile defense in Europe are anything but. This article is written in German.

NATO must go global to have a meaningful purpose
Ronald D. Asmus
Financial Times
February 6, 2007
When western security experts gather this weekend in Munich to discuss the future of NATO at their annual security conference, they will be considering an Atlantic alliance that faces two rather stark choices: re-reinvent itself to handle the threats of a new century, or watch itself drift slowly into strategic marginalization.

Gesucht: Magischer Bund
Constanze Stelzenmüller
Die ZEIT
November 25, 2006
At this year's NATO Summit in Riga, coalition partners are debating how to best modernize NATO, but it is a moot question, especially when coalition partners are stumbling in the military campaign in Afghanistan. This article is in written in German.