Searching for Peace in Afghanistan: Collaborative Possibilities for Youth in Peacebuilding

A team of 4 young people from The YP Foundation (TYPF) were invited to participate and address a roundtable on Searching for Peace in Afghanistan: Collaborative Possibilities for Youth in Peacebuilding. The roundtable brought together young people from both Afghanistan and India, along with organizations and institutions with considerable expertise in issues relating to conflict transformation, the reconstruction of Afghanistan, peace and security and work with young people in both regions. TYPF, led by Aryaman Bhatnagar, Tanvi Rao, Udit Rastogi and Ishita Chaudhry has agreed to partner in a strategic youth led process that will work consistently at bringing young people from both regions (especially students) in Delhi together, through an interactive series that aims at creating stronger understanding amongst young people on the positive ways in which they can cross barriers and impact the process of peacebuilding.

The roundtable highlighted the possibilities that youth engaging in peacebuilding processes may yield and from the standpoint of Afghanistan’s strategic and national interest, explore the potential of multi-level dialogues to build sustainable peace and security. Organized by Women In Security and Conflict Management (WISCOMP), the roundtable was envisaged as an important first step in the process to

• Understand the current ground realities in Afghanistan through the lens of human security.
• Explore possibilities for collaboration between the youth of India and Afghanistan.
• Evaluate the challenges to involvement of the youth in the peacebuilding process and explore ways of overcoming these challenges.
• Identify ways in which the youth can impact the processes of peacebuilding and reconstruction both within Afghanistan and outside, through countries that are providing aid and are engaged in processes of reconstruction.
• And above all, to provide a space for young Afghan people to articulate their ideas and concerns about the future they envision for themselves and their country.

An important element of peace building involves a process where people explore options for responding to the challenges of the present, while being guided by the possibilities and hopes for the future.[1] It is WISCOMP’s hope that insights generated at this Roundtable will illuminate many possibilities for collaboration between youth that will not only invigorate the ongoing processes but also create new partnerships for peacebuilding in Afghanistan. For more details, please contact Aryman Bhatnagar at yp.aryamanbhatnagar@gmail.com. A report on the roundtable will be circulated soon.

Reference: WISCOMP Event Concept Note.

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[1] Manjrika Sewak, 2005. Multi- Track Diplomacy between India and Pakistan: A conceptual Framework for Sustainable Security. RCSS Policy Studies 30.(Colombo. Manohar)