On August 30 2021, the US withdrew its military troops from Afghanistan after twenty years, creating a power vacuum that allowed the Taliban to seize power. The rest of the world waited to see what policies the new government would put into place, causing international aid to be paused and Afghanistan’s overseas assets to be frozen. Taliban rule and the effect of these international sanctions have already had dire consequences for local development and governance in Afghanistan. During this roundtable, we looked at the situation six months after the events of August 30, and explored the situation locally in Afghanistan.

Panelists:

Frances Brown, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 

Khalid Fahim, The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan.

Mohammed Qadam Shah, Assistant Professor of Global Development, Seattle Pacific University.

Timor Sharan, Local Governance & Development Expert and former Senior Analyst for the International Crisis Group in Afghanistan.

Chair:

Jennifer Brick Murtazashvili, Associate Professor & Director of the Center for Governance and Markets at the University of Pittsburgh, Non-resident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Read the policy brief based on this roundtable!

Local Governance in Afghanistan, Governance and Local Development Institute, Policy Brief no.8, March 2022.