| Since 1973, Afghanistan has been in a state of turbulent transition marked by instability and internal conflict. External intervention by the neighbours and by the erstwhile superpowers during the 1970s and 1980s failed to bring peace to this land; instead it spawned the new threat of a globalised jihadi terrorism. Post 9/11, there emerged a collective effort, backed by the international community, to bring stability to this fractured land. Fifteen years later, the commitment of the international community is flagging and Afghanistan is still struggling to cope with political, economic and security challenges against the backdrop of rising violence and conflict. Taliban remains a threat even as IS is seeking to mark its presence in the region. Under the circumstances, will the economic pledges made at the Tokyo Conference translate into reality? Can the newly established Quadrilateral Coordination Group consisting of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the US help underwrite a peace process? How capable are the newly established Afghan institutions in facing these challenges?
Against this background, the session will seek to provide insights by analysing trends for the near future, up to 2020, and how India should factor these into its Afghan policy.
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| SPEAKERS |
 | Mr Vivek Katju, Former Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs
Mr Vivek Katju joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1975. He served in the Indian Missions in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, Washington D.C., Suva and also served as Deputy High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur. He was Ambassador of India to Myanmar, Afghanistan and Thailand. Mr Katju served at the Ministry of External Affairs ( MEA) in various positions including as Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran), as Additional and Special Secretary (Political and International Organisations).
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| Mr Katju served as Secretary West in MEA from September 2009 to August 2011. Currently, he is an analyst, commentator and columnist. |
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| | Ambassador Jayant Prasad, Director General, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
Ambassador Jayant Prasad is Director General, Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. He was India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, Algeria, Nepal, and the UN Conference on Disarmament, Geneva. He was Rapporteur of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Geneva (1986-87), Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University (1998-99), member of U.N. Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters (2005-07), and Visiting Scholar, Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania (2014-15).
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| Before his 37-year public service career, he was lecturer in history, St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, after completing his studies at Modern School, St. Stephen’s College, and Jawarharlal Nehru University. |
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| | Mr Amar Sinha, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs
Amar Sinha joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. He is an Economics Graduate from Patna University and has worked with the State Bank of India for over two years before joining the Indian Foreign Service. During his diplomatic career, he has served in various capacities in Algiers (1983-87), Buenos Aires (1987-90), in the Ministry of External Affairs as Private Secretary to Minister of State for External Affairs, Chemicals & Fertilizers, Parliamentary Affairs and Department of Electronics and Ocean Development from July 91 to May 96.
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| He then served as Director (BSM) in Ministry of External Affairs from June 1996 to July 1997 and as OSD to Minister of State for External Affairs from July 1997 to April 1998. He also held diplomatic positions in Indian Missions in Washington DC [1998-2001], Jakarta [2001-2004] and Brussels [2004-2007] before being appointed India’s Ambassador to Tajikistan (April 2007 to July 2010). During his last tenure in India [2010-2013], he was on deputation to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and served as Joint Secretary in the Trade Policy Division and the RMTR Division handling WTO related matters and issues related to multilateral economic negotiations. He also oversaw India’s participation in multilateral fora such as UNCTAD, APTA, BIMSTEC, G20, IBSA, BRICS, etc. After completion of his assignment in Kabul successfully as Ambassador of India to Afghanistan (June 2013 to January 2016), he has assumed the charge of the post of Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi, on January 15, 2016. His charge includes Development Partnership, Africa, and countries in the Gulf and West Asia. He speaks Hindi, English, French and Spanish and is familiar with Dari. His interests include travelling, sports, reading and playing Bridge, Tennis and Golf. He has one son. |
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| | Ambassador Rakesh Sood, Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament & Non-Proliferation Issues
Ambassador Rakesh Sood is a Post Graduate in Physics and additionally in Economics and Defence studies. He has over 38 years of experience in the field of foreign affairs, economic diplomacy and international security issues. Before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1976, Ambassador Sood worked for a couple of years in the private sector. Ambassador Sood initially served in the Indian missionsat Brussels, Dakar, Geneva and Islamabad in different capacities and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Washington, later in his career.
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| He set up the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division in the Foreign Ministry, which he led for eight years till the end of 2000. During this period, Ambassador Sood was in charge for multilateral disarmament negotiations, bilateral dialogues with Pakistan, strategic dialogues with other countries including US, UK, France and Israel (especially after the nuclear tests in 1998), and dealt with India’s role in the ASEAN Regional Forum, as part of the ‘look East’ policy. He then served as India’s first Ambassador – Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva. He also chaired a number of international Working Groups including those relating to negotiations on landmines and cluster munitions and was a member of UN Secretary General’s Disarmament Advisory Board (2002-03). Subsequently, he was India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2005 to early 2008, Ambassador to Nepal from 2008 to 2011 and to France from 2011 to March 2013. In September 2013, Ambassador Sood was appointed Special Envoy of the Prime Minister for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Issues; a position he held till May 2014. Since his retirement he has been writing and commentating regularly in both print and audio visual media on India’s foreign policy, its economic dimensions and regional &international security issues. He is a frequent speaker/contributor at various policy planning groups and reputed think-tanks in India and overseas. |
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| CHAIR |
| | Ambassador Satinder K Lambah, Chairman, Ananta Aspen Centre and Former Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India
Ambassador Satinder K Lambah was the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister of India from 2005-14 with the rank of Minister of State from 2010 onwards. He was the Co-Chairman of the Task Force on National Security 2011 – 2012. Ambassador Lambah was the President of Association of Indian Diplomats in 2005. He was a Convener of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) in 2004-05 and the President of the Federation of Indo-German Societies in India from 2005-2014.
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| He was the Special Envoy of the Government of India for Afghanistan and led the Indian delegation to the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in 2001-02. In 2001, Ambassador Lambah Chaired a Committee on the Re-organization of Ministry of External Affairs and Indian missions abroad. Ambassador Lambah has served in several Missions abroad including as the Ambassador of India to the Russian Federation, Ambassador of India to the Federal Republic of Germany, High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, Consul General of India, San Francisco, and Ambassador of India to Hungary. He was Deputy Secretary General of the 7th Non Aligned Summit held in Delhi in 1983 and later Coordinator of the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting in India. His specializations include Economic Diplomacy and dealing with India’s neighbours. He opened the Indian Embassy in Bangladesh after liberation. He has been involved in many successful economic ventures. For instance, the first Export of an Indian Car (Sale of Maruti Cars) took place when he was Ambassador in Hungary. India’s largest investment ever upto that time of over $2 Billion in Sakhalin-I was made in 2001 when he was Ambassador in Russia. For this, in March 2015, he was conferred the “Urja Energy Security Award”. During his tenure as Consul General of India in San Francisco (1989-91) he was conferred a “Trustees’ Citation” by the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 for his initiating, coordinating, and spearheading the campaign which generated over US$2 million in a short span of four months for Indian Studies, resulting in the creation of two Chairs of India Studies, a bi-annual lecture by a distinguished scholar from India, and an annual scholarship at the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C Berkeley. He is married to Nilima Lambah, author of “A Life Across Three Continents – Recollections of a Diplomat’s Wife”. |
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