Geographic Perspectives

Pakistan: Stakeholder Perceptions & Expectations

A series of focus group and individual discussions with representatives of civil society, security experts and analysts, former government officials, lawmakers and youth, were held in Islamabad in March 2016, facilitated by the Jinnah Institute Islamabad. With the upcoming closure of the Sources of Tension in Afghanistan & Pakistan: A Regional Perspective policy research project in autumn 2016, the aim was to provide policymakers in Europe with the feedback and inputs from Pakistan that will assist them to shape their policies towards the country, together with those towards Afghanistan, for the coming decade.

Afghanistan: Stakeholder Perceptions & Expectations

A series of discussions were held in Kabul in mid April 2016 with current and former politicians, local government experts, NGOs, civil society and the media/private sector1. With the upcoming closure of the Sources of Tension in Afghanistan & Pakistan: A Regional Perspective policy research project in autumn 2016, the aim was to provide policymakers in Europe with the feedback and inputs from Kabul that will assist them to shape their policies towards Afghanistan, for the coming decade.

Europe: Stakeholder Perceptions & Expectations On Afghanistan & Pakistan Views from Brussels, Madrid & Oslo

As part of the final year´s work programme for the CIDOB policy research project Sources of Tension in Afghanistan & Pakistan: A Regional Perspective, a series of meetings with European stakeholders in Brussels and Madrid were held in May and June 2016, to share the initial findings from focus group discussions and interviews in Kabul and Islamabad in the first quarter of the year; and to obtain feedback and reactions from participants. Outputs from the whole series of meetings were then taken to the project´s funders and other Norway based stakeholders, to hand over to policymakers going forward, in a meeting on June 23 2016, in Oslo. The summary outputs from each set of meetings are presented below.

Pakistan: Overview of Sources of Tension with Regional Implications 2015

After the upheavals of 2014, wherein the government faced a sustained street campaign from some opposition parties for the better part of the year, 2015 was a relatively stable year for domestic politics. Ironically, the improvement in government-opposition relations came after the country witnessed the worst terrorist incident in its history – the attack on…

Pakistan: Overview of Sources of Tension with Regional Implications 2014

Having witnessed a peaceful transfer of power from one elected government to the next in 2013, Pakistan seemed poised for a period of political stability in 2014. This has not, however, been the case, with the government facing allegations of electoral fraud, and dealing with sustained street demonstrations and calls to resign from at least one opposition party, in addition to a politico-religious group with political aspirations. Similarly, the negotiation of a loan with the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility in September 2013 has not resulted in significant economic reform, and growth projections remain below potential.

Afghanistan: Overview of Sources of Tension with Regional Implications 2014

The purpose of this series of quarterly monitoring reports (2014) is to monitor and track the actions as well as public statements of five key STAP RP regional actors (India, Iran, Russia, China, SaudiArabia) on Pakistan; the development of, and their participation in relevant international and regional discussion meetings, including the Istanbul Process, Heart of…