A path out of violence
Facing the drawdown of U.S. forces and the run-up to next year’s presidential election, Afghanistan has reached a critical moment in its troubled history. Despite ongoing violence, mostly connected to the Taliban, there are reasons to be optimistic that the country can make a peaceful political and security transition by 2014, Afghan diplomat Salahuddin Rabbani said Thursday in a conversation that kicked off a Kennedy School conference on Afghanistan’s future. “We are under no illusions that this will be easy, but substantial gains have been made,” said Rabbani, his country’s ambassador to Turkey and chairman of the Afghan High Peace Council, the group charged with negotiating with the Taliban. “The Afghan national security forces have been increasingly taking responsibility for security within the country, we’ve have had two relatively peaceful elections, and citizens have better access to public services than any time in recent history.” Rabbani was joined at the event by James...