In-house session discusses ISIS presence in Afghanistan and Afghan refugee issue in Pakistan

Afghanistan’s stability is vital for region’s peace and security, particularly for Pakistan, which has been directly affected for the lack thereof.

In the given backdrop, a special session was held at the Institute of Policy Studies, Islamabad to study emerging scenarios in Afghanistan as well as to understand Afghan perspective on some issues concerning Pakistan.

The session, which was held on February 19, 2015, was addressed by Naseer Ahmed Nawidy from Centre for Strategic and Regional Studies (CSRS), Kabul, Kamalludin Kamal, CSRS, Kabul, Sr. IPS associate Brig (r) Said Nazir, Sr. IPS associate Dr Cdr (r) Azhar Ahmed, and DG-IPS Khalid Rahman.

Nawidy delivered a detailed presentation on prevailing on-ground situation in Afghanistan, including the news of ISIS emergence, which he termed over-emphasized by the media. The presenter was of the view that the situation in Afghanistan was not very conducive for ISIS to grow, except for a very few areas which could be vulnerable to the speculative threat.

In another presentation, Kamalludin Kamal discussed the status of Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The speaker presented Afghan perspective over the issue, underlining various problems the Afghan expatriates were faced with during their stay in Pakistan as well as while returning to their country of origin.

DG-IPS concluded the session with a notion that Afghan refugee issue had social, political, economic, and security dimensions associated with it, hence, their repatriation needs to be done with careful planning instead of adopting any quick-fix solution.