Deputy Chief of Mission, M. Ashraf Haidari was invited by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in the Trilateral British-Afghan-Polish Analytical Forum in Warsaw, Poland, on March 18-19, 2013. The event was co-hosted by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British Embassy in Warsaw at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, where senior diplomats, academics, members of civil society, and media from the three countries gathered to discuss a number of key issues relating to the process of transition in Afghanistan. Other notable speakers included Minister Boguslaw Winid, Undersecretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Robin Barnet, British Ambassador to Poland, Mr. Piotr Lukasiewicz, Polish Ambassador to Afghanistan, and Ambassador Jerzy Wieclaw, Head of the South Asia Unit at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Mr. Haidari led one of the panel discussions on the “Regional Dimension of Stability in Afghanistan,” and provided the audience with a comprehensive overview of the stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan in a regional context. He extended the gratitude of the Afghan the government and people to the government and people of Poland for their continued support. He remembered the ultimate sacrifice of the Polish forces to help secure areas of their operational responsibility, particularly the key province of Ghazni. He also welcomed the recent signing of a comprehensive cooperation agreement between Afghanistan and Poland, which outlines Poland’s long-term assistance to Afghanistan beyond 2014.
Moreover, Mr. Haidari spoke at the University of Warsaw Faculty of Political Sciences and International Relations. He discussed with students the 12-year achievements of Afghanistan, the process of transition, as well as the challenges the country faces, in an international context. He highlighted the historic relations between Poland and Afghanistan, dating back to 1928 when the two countries first established diplomatic relations.
Since Poland’s engagement in Afghanistan, the country has lost 38 forces, with over 100 others wounded, fighting alongside Afghans to secure the country. They have operated a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the province of Ghanzi, and their forces number 1770, which have begun withdrawing from Afghanistan, while continuing to support and train the Afghan forces to consolidate their hard-earned gains in the Regional Command Capital and Regional Command East.
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