Prof Imtiaz Ahmed

 In this week’s call–in show our panelists, while answering the questions from our listeners, centered their discussions on US Policy towards Afghanistan.  After the tragic terrorist attacks of 9/11, US, in order to pursue the perpetrators wanted Afghanistan to handover Osama Bin –Laden, the mastermind of terrorism to the US authorities. 

Afghanistan’s Taliban-led government refused to comply with US requests which compelled United States to attack Afghanistan resulting in the overthrow of the Taliban government in Afghanistan.  However, as Barack Obama, in his presidential election campaign said that with US focus turning towards Iraq , Afghanistan’s job was half done. He vowed to eliminate Al Qaida and Taliban from Afghanistan as well as from Pakistan.

Dr. Mehnaz Momen

 Now that President Obama has been awarded Nobel Peace Prize, he has been, as our panelists think, in dilemma. While replying to questions the panelists say that no war can solve problems permanently but they also think that an immediate roll back is not possible for practical reasons. Interesting interactions took place between the three panelists whether President Obama’s policy is remarkably different from former President George W Bush’s policy or not. Panelists also talked about the controversy surrounding Presidential elections in Afghanistan and the problems of governance there.

Rezaul Hasan

The panelists on this edition of call-in show included Professor Imtiaz Ahmed from the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University, Dr Mehnaz Momen , Associate Professor , Department of Social Science , Texas A & M University  and Mr Rezaul Hasan, Civil Affairs Officer , United Nations Assistance Mission in Kabul , Afghanistan.