Afghanistan could change into a battlefield for foreign countries unless government defines a more balanced and multi-pronged foreign policy strategy, said former national security advisor Rangeen Dadfar Spanta.
He said Afghanistan has to break away from the reliance on certain nations and work on new concepts.
Spanta made the statement during a conference in Kabul which was organized by Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) where speakers debated Afghanistan’s foreign policy issues.
“I think a multipronged policy will help us to be in more harmony and cooperation with other countries and in principle have equal rights, the right of national sovereignty and mutual respect,” said Spanta.
According to Spanta, now is the time for Afghanistan to work on its foreign policy.
In their speeches, the participants highlighted the multidimensional side to the Afghan foreign policy and stressed the need for a more coherent, balanced and multipolar foreign policy track.
The former head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency - the National Directorate of Security (NDS) - Amrullah Saleh questioned the current issues facing Afghanistan’s foreign policy and called for a more working and active foreign policy track to be pursued.
He said that mismanagement and disharmony within the foreign policy managing bodies would have implications for the country.
“Some rootless people unfortunately on the basis of wage calculation came and occupied some parts of the power in Afghanistan and demolished major parts of global opportunities,” said Saleh.
“The government should distance its foreign policy institutions from politics and instead make them more professional, as much as possible, so that it can handle the problems where foreign policy is defined. Secondly the government should pursue a balanced regional and foreign policy. It should be a multipronged foreign policy. Thirdly I see the ongoing transition happening in the world as an opportunity rather than considering it a threat,” said political researcher Tamim Asey.
Meanwhile, a number of political commentators have said that Afghanistan is not able to pursue a neutral foreign policy concept.
“At first we need to explain the interests of regional countries in Afghanistan and then institutionalize these interests in a way and make them balance, then tell them this is the limit of your interests, however this needs a regional debate,” said deputy minister of foreign affairs Nasir Ahmad Andisha.
Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) will also organize similar conferences on peace and the constitution in the near future.