New Delhi:-Deputy Chief of Mission M. Ashraf Haidari participated in a regional conference on “Deconstructing South-South Cooperation: A South Asian Perspective” on March 28, 2014, at the India Habitat Center. The event was co-facilitated by the Southern Voice on Post-MDG Development Goals, National Council of Applied Economic Research, and Center for Policy Dialogue. Mr. Haidari spoke in the second session, discussing Afghanistan’s experience with South-South cooperation. “We strongly encourage and support South-South development cooperation, and I am sure that this Dialogue will adequately highlight ways for collective action. However, we believe that in a globalized world where interdependencies between the Global South and the Global North continue to increase only, we must begin thinking in terms of North-South-South cooperation,” Mr. Haidari noted.
He asked how such cooperation would work in practice and explained that Afghanistan’s experience with international cooperation over the past 13 years was instructive. “We propose a modality of North-South-South cooperation where developed countries closely partner with developing countries to assist least developed and war-torn countries like Afghanistan,” Mr. Haidari pointed out. He added that “this is win-win for everyone, with the targeted beneficiaries benefiting the most in terms of aid effectiveness. Just an example, for the cost of flying ten Afghan professionals all the way to the US or Europe for training, more than 100 Afghans can be trained much more cost-effectively in India or Indonesia.”
On the challenges facing South-South cooperation, Mr. Haidari noted that “even though many countries have adjusted to a win-win paradigm in international affairs, there are still a number of countries that remain obsessed with and stuck in a zero-sum mentality, continuing to seek their short-term security in the insecurity of others. He added that Afghanistan unfortunately remained a prime victim of zero-sum designs in the region. Just this past week, suicide terrorists indiscriminately and inhumanely attacked and killed over a dozen innocent Afghan and international civilians. Their victims included a very young Afghan family: Ahmad Sardar, his wife, and their two children at the Serena Hotel where they were dining on the New Year Eve.
Below a full transcript of Mr. Haidari’s remarks at the conference:
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Remarks By M. Ashraf Haidari, the Deputy Chief of Mission (Minister Counselor) of Afghanistan to India, at Conference on “Deconstructing South-South Cooperation: South Asian Perspective” – India Habitat Center - New Delhi – March 28, 2014
Distinguished panelists,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am pleased to participate in this very timely Dialogue on a topic of concern to all of us. I wish to thank Southern Voice, National Council of Applied Economic Research, and Center for Policy Dialogue for co-facilitating this forum, and for kindly inviting me to share with you Afghanistan’s perspective on the importance of South-South cooperation. I do hope that our discussions here will help strengthen global partnership for effective development cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Over the past thirteen years, Afghanistan has become a center of international cooperation. More than fifty countries, along with a multitude of international and regional organizations, have been partnering with us to secure and develop Afghanistan. These countries and organizations represent both the Global South and the Global North, in an unprecedented environment of global partnership in support of stabilization and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The convergence of the South and the North in Afghanistan speaks to the fact that our world has increasingly become interdependent, considering that international security and international development are inextricably intertwined and no longer separable. Let me contextually analyze this interconnected security and development landscape, through Afghanistan’s recent history.
As a country of the South, Afghanistan was used by the North to fight their ideological Cold War against the former Soviet Union. Once the Cold War ended and the Soviet forces withdrew from Afghanistan, we no longer mattered to the West. In their mind, we were a country too distant from them geographically and culturally, and it was now up to Afghanistan and its region as how to address the post-Cold War security and development needs of the country.
In the 1990s, the negligence by the North of a completely devastated country with a failed state in the South provided an enabling environment for transnational illicit activities that transcended the borders of the South and the North alike. And on 9/11, the spillover effects of a neglected Afghanistan eventually reached the shores of the United States with negative implications for global security and economy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the wake of the tragedy of 9/11, the major countries of the North and the South descended on Afghanistan for cooperation and assistance. Indeed, they grasped the realities of a changing world where seeking one’s security in the insecurity of others was no longer a rational policy choice in their best long-term interest. Even though many countries have adjusted to a win-win paradigm in international affairs, there are still a number of countries that remain obsessed with and stuck in a zero-sum mentality, continuing to seek their short-term security in the insecurity of others.
Unfortunately, despite ongoing international cooperation to secure and develop Afghanistan, we remain a prime victim of zero-sum designs in the region. Bloodthirsty terrorists with safe sanctuaries in Pakistan daily infiltrate into Afghanistan and target our innocent people, including women and children. Just this past week, suicide terrorists indiscriminately and inhumanely attacked and killed over a dozen innocent Afghan and international civilians. Their victims included a very young Afghan family: Ahmad Sardar, his wife, and their two children at the Serena Hotel where they were dining on the New Year/Nowroz Eve.
We strongly condemn external state sponsorship of terrorism in Afghanistan, in flagrant violation of the UN Charter and international humanitarian and human rights laws. But we understand that mere words of condemnation have hardly helped. That is why we renew our call upon the Global South to step up to the plate and take effective, collective measures against peace spoilers in our midst.
Unless we address the challenge of insecurity commonly facing us, we can hardly prosper together, for development can only take place in a peaceful environment. This is a lesson that the Europeans learned the hard way, after the First and Second World Wars. We must learn from them and the many integrated mechanisms of cooperation, including the European Union, they have developed to ensure effective security and development cooperation with one another that underpin sustainable peace and prosperity across Europe.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
On development aid effectiveness in Afghanistan, we have mixed experience with the countries of the South and those of the North in the donor community. Both sides have certain advantages and certain disadvantages. India and the United States stand out as two good examples. India as a developing country itself has significant expertise and experience in poverty reduction and development with relevant application in Afghanistan. Similarly, India’s approach to aid implementation is demand-driven based on the specific needs of the Afghan government, in line with our national development priorities.
However, India lacks the kind of aid resources the US as a developed country has at its disposal. But the US not only lacks India’s development expertise and experience in the Afghan context but has also faltered to provide Afghanistan with effective assistance, in accordance with the specific needs of the Afghan people. America’s use of private contractors and their horde of sub-contractors often wastes aid resources and has usually proven counterproductive to our shared objective of helping Afghanistan become self-reliant.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We strongly encourage and support South-South development cooperation, and I am sure that this Dialogue will adequately highlight ways for collective action. However, we believe that in a globalized world where interdependencies between the Global South and the Global North continue to increase only, we must begin thinking in terms of North-South-South cooperation.
How does such necessary cooperation work in practice? Well, Afghanistan’s experience, which I explained earlier, is instructive. We propose a modality of North-South-South cooperation where developed countries closely partner with developing countries to assist least developed and war-torn countries like Afghanistan. This is win-win for everyone, with the targeted beneficiaries benefiting the most in terms of aid effectiveness. Just an example, for the cost of flying ten Afghan professionals all the way to the US or Europe for training, more than 100 Afghans can be trained much more cost-effectively in India or Indonesia.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am delighted to note that such cooperation has already begun. And a number of institutions of our Government have benefited from technical training workshops and seminars in India, funded by developed countries of the North. Still, there is much more potential for expansion of North-South-South development cooperation in contexts like Afghanistan. In our case, we look forward to working with our South and North nation-partners to identify areas of cooperation where our interests converge and to make the best of each other’s aid resources and technical capabilities geared towards achievement of our shared objective: a secure Afghanistan in a more peaceful and prosperous world.
Thank you.
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