On November 25, 2021, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI, Pakistan) held a closed webinar “Current Turmoil in Afghanistan: Russia-Pakistan Potential Role”. The goal of the meeting was to discuss the positions of Russia and Pakistan on key issues related to the situation in Afghanistan. Andrey Kortunov, Director General at the RIAC, and Zafar Cheema, President and Executive Director at the SVI, delivered opening remarks.
On November 25, 2021, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) together with the Strategic Vision Institute (SVI, Pakistan) held a closed webinar “Current Turmoil in Afghanistan: Russia-Pakistan Potential Role”. The goal of the meeting was to discuss the positions of Russia and Pakistan on key issues related to the situation in Afghanistan. Andrey Kortunov, Director General at the RIAC, and Zafar Cheema, President and Executive Director at the SVI, delivered opening remarks.
In the framework of the webinar, experts discussed the political challenges provoked by Afghan crisis for Russia and Pakistan. During the meeting, a special attention was paid to the economic and humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, as well as the need to stabilize the situation in this country to maintain international and regional security. The experts also considered the possible role of Russia and Pakistan in political settlement of the situation in Afghanistan.
Leading Russian and Pakistani experts took part in the webinar. The RIAC was represented by: Andrey Kortunov, Director General at the RIAC; Mikhail Konarovsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, RIAC Member; Irina Zviagelskaya, Head of Center for the Middle East Studies of the IMEMO RAS, RIAC Member; Andrey Kazantsev, Professor at the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of the HSE; Omar Nessar, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS; Temur Umarov, Research Consultant at the Carnegie Moscow Center; Milan Lazovich and Ivan Bocharov, Program Assistants at the RIAC.
On the part of SVI, the seminar was attended by: Zafar Cheema, President and Executive Director at the SVI; Fauzia Nasreen, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Iran; Qazi Khalil Ullah, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to Russia, Executive Director at the Center for International Strategic Studies Sindh; Shabana Fayyaz, Associate Professor at the Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad; Talat Farooq, Senior Consultant at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute; Amina Khan, Director at the Centre for Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad; Faaiz Amir, Former Vice-Chancellor at the Air University, Islamabad; Ahyousha Khan, Senior Research Associate at the SVI.
