Afghanistan Today: Drugs, Detention, and Counterinsurgency

Hosted by The Center on Law and Security at NYU School of Law, co-sponsored by The New America Foundation

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY AMBASSADOR RICHARD C. HOLBROOKE

As the U.S. engages in a simmering war as well as in continued attempts at building infrastructure, the conference will consider a wide-ranging set of questions in order to clarify policy choices regarding both military and civilian investment in the country. What is the current state of the Taliban? What might the reversion of Afghanistan into failed-state status mean? How prevalent – and how effective – has counterinsurgency been in the country? What are the possibilities for increasing the size of the Afghan army and for embedding U.S. advisors and troops? What role does NATO play? What are the realistic scenarios for stemming the drug trade, and for mounting reconstruction?  As a result, the day promises to provide a comprehensive picture of the challenges that face America’s foreign policy establishment as one administration transitions power to the next.

Featuring speakers:

• Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
• Steve Coll
• Peter Bergen
• Barnett Rubin
• Scott Horton
• Steve Simon
• David Kilcullen
• Joanne Mariner
• Imtiaz Ali
• Lt. Gen. David Barno
• Shuja Nawaz
• Lawrence Wright
• Elizabeth Rubin
• Nir Rosen
• Sean Langan
• Doug Wankel
• Andrew Wilder
• Stephen Holmes
• Karen Greenberg
• Ambassador Omar Samad

9:00 a.m. Introductory Remarks
Karen J. Greenberg
Executive Director, Center on Law and Security, NYU

9:15 a.m. Keynote
Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke
Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN

10:00 a.m. Today’s Afghanistan: An Overview
Steve Simon
Hasib J. Sabbagh Senior Fellow, Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations, Goldman Sachs Visiting Professor in Public Policy, Princeton University

Peter Bergen
Schwartz Senior Fellow, New America Foundation
Fellow, Center on Law and Security, New York University

Barnett Rubin
Director of Studies & Senior Fellow, Center on International Cooperation,
New York University

Imtiaz Ali
World Fellow, Yale University

Hekmat Karzai
Director, Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (Kabul, Afghanistan)

11:15 a.m. Counterinsurgency, NATO, and the Military
Scott Horton
Adjunct Professor, Columbia Law School

Lt. Gen. David Barno
Director, Near East South Asia Center, Center for Strategic Studies,
U.S. Department of Defense

Dr. David Kilcullen
Former Senior Counter Insurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus

Steve Coll
Staff Writer, The New Yorker
President & CEO, New America Foundation

Shuja Nawaz
Author,Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within

12:30 Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. Challenges Ahead: The International Perspective
Ambassador Omar Samad

Ambassador of Afghanistan to Canada

2:00 p.m. Building the Nation: Civil Society and the Rule of Law
Stephen Holmes

Walter E. Meyer Professor Of Law, New York University

Joanne Mariner
Director, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program, Human Rights Watch

Clare Lockhart
Co-Founder & CEO, Institute for State Effectiveness

Andrew Wilder
Research Director for Policy Process, Feinstein International Center,
Tufts University

3:15 p.m. The Taliban, Drugs, and U.S. Policy
Lawrence Wright
Fellow, Center on Law and Security, New York University
Staff Writer, The New Yorker

Elizabeth Rubin
Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Contributing Writer, The New York Times Magazine

Nir Rosen
Research Fellow, New America Foundation
Fellow, Center on Law And Security, NYU

Sean Langan
Journalist and Documentary Film maker

Doug Wankel
Former Counter Narcotics Coordinator, U.S. Embassy in Kabul