NEWS & EVENTS

On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies welcomed Ambassador Henry S. Ensher, Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann, Ambassador Richard G. Olson, and Rohullah Osmani, founder of Resilient States and Visiting Scholar at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies | SAIS, for a discussion on Afghanistan and regional integration in South-Central Asia, moderated by Dr. Kent E. Calder.

Ambassador Neumann began the morning with a complex picture of Afghanistan composed of three interwoven political games and ongoing military activity. Ambassador Olson addressed broader geopolitical issues through an overview of regional actors’ interests and responses to the Afghan peace process. Through a regional lens, Rohullah described South-Central Asia’s under-explored economic and energy integration, though from his perspective, both are improbable without basic security. Ambassador Ensher closed with the American perspective, highlighting the State Department’s counter-terrorism priorities and efforts to connect Afghanistan both vertically and horizontally.

In the remaining time, Dr. Calder fielded questions from the audience which covered the potential for a regional security apparatus, the financial sustainability of energy projects, and actors in the peace process.