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AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS VICTORIA
IMPORTANT: please note that the March 11 address by Mr Rodney Cocks has had to be cancelled and that Dr Bezhan’s event is on the following day, March 12.
Afghanistan: War Without End?
Dr Faridullah Bezhan, Monash Asia Institute
Thursday March 12, 2009
5.30pm – 7pm
Dyason House
124 Jolimont Road, East Melbourne
More than eight years after the Taliban's removal from power by US-led international forces, followed by the election of a new government, Afghanistan has entered into an entirely different phase of war. It is marked by challenges of a revitalised Taliban-led insurgency which has not only stepped up its activities in its heartlands around the south and east, but is now operating in other parts of Afghanistan. The Taliban groups conduct operations and are holding territories within the tribal belt of Pakistan alongside the Afghan border. This can be regarded as a lack of an effective strategy or even an unwillingness by the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as the coalition forces, to combat the Taliban. These developments require the Obama administration, which has given Afghanistan top military priority, to review its strategies and consider a military surge among other approaches to the problem. All this raises a vital question: is war winnable in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and, if so, how? These questions are vital for Australia, with its military involvement in Afghanistan and growing fears for the stability of the region.
Dr Faridullah Bezhan is a senior research fellow at Monash Asia Institute, Monash University. Currently he is working on an Australian Research Council (ARC) project, "The Jihadi, Revolutionary and Antiwar Fiction in Afghanistan, 1978-2007". He has written several books and articles in English and Persian on the literature, politics and history of Afghanistan. His most recent monographs are: 'The Politics of Satire': Tarjom n, the First Afghanistani Satirical Newspaper' (Monash University Press, 2008), 'Gift of Badakhshan: literature and history' (Mawqofat Afshar, 2007), which he edited and annotated, and 'Afghanistani Storytelling and Writing: history, performance and forms’ (Monash Asia Institute, 2006).
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Tickets payable at the door :
- Members $15
- Non-Members $25
- Student Members $8
- Student Non-Members $12
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If you plan to attend this function, kindly assist us with the catering by informing the AIIA at least 1 day before the event -
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