13
April 2017
Past Event
U.S. Options in Afghanistan and Pakistan

U.S. Options in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
April 13, 2017
A Pakistani soldier walks amidst the debris in an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
Caption
A Pakistani soldier walks amidst the debris in an army-run school a day after an attack by Taliban militants in Peshawar on December 17, 2014. (A Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
13
April 2017
Past Event

1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004

Speakers:
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad

Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq, and the United Nations; Counselor, CSIS

Ambassador Robin Raphel

Former Assistant Secretary of State, South and Central Asian Affairs

Ambassador Husain Haqqani

Senior Fellow & Director, South and Central Asia, Hudson Institute

American forces went into Afghanistan soon after 9/11 to eliminate Al-Qaeda's sanctuary provided by the brutal Taliban regime. Fifteen years later, the Taliban are still able to conduct terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, often from safe havens across the border in Pakistan, and the region now hosts Jihadist groups affiliated with both Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

As the Trump Administration conducts a policy review about how best to break the stalemate in Afghanistan, it must weigh a wide and complicated array of options between two highly fraught extremes: outright withdrawal from Afghanistan and a continuation of business-as-usual with Pakistan, or military escalation in Afghanistan coupled with a designation of Pakistan as a "state sponsor of terrorism."

Decisions made about policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan will have a crucial impact on the outcome of the global war on terrorism and Islamist extremism.

Hudson Institute’s South Asia Program hosted a discussion about U.S. options in Afghanistan and Pakistan with Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq, and Ambassador Robin Raphel, former Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

The discussion was moderated by Amb Husain Haqqani, former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and Director, South and Central Asia at Hudson Institute.

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