Spring 2024 Conflict Series - The Role of International Development in Post Conflict Stability: The Case of Afghanistan

The Conflict, Security, and Development Series examines new research, discusses creative policy approaches, and highlights recent innovations in responding to the challenges of security and development in conflict and post-conflict situations.

For our final talk of the Spring 2024 season, Dr. Sibghatullah Ghaznawi, will discuss how despite significant investment from the international community in development projects aimed at fostering stability in Afghanistan, the country's political system collapsed in a matter of a few months. It is imperative to delve into the underlying factors contributing to this failure and integrate them into academic discourse.

Dr. Ghaznawi i an associate research scholar at Columbia University's Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, where he focuses on how international development impacts political stability in post-conflict settings. He has extensive field experience of designing, implementing and coordinating projects and programs for political stability through strengthening sub-national and community governance institutions. Prior to this, he was deputy minister of municipalities in the Independent Director of Local Governance of Afghanistan. His current research interests are to examine and question the existing theoretical basis of post conflict political stability interventions. He wants to develop models of political stability that are acceptable for the stakeholders of a conflict with a clear focus on protecting basic human rights, specifically of women, minorities and marginalized groups.