Public Diplomacy in Afghanistan

The importance of public diplomacy in the context of political, militrary and development effort in Afghanistan can not be underestimated. In an article, 'Public Diplomacy: Challenges and Opportunities for International Engagement in Afghanistan', M. Ashraf Haridari argued how public diplomacy can help establish long lasting peace in Afghanistan. But Haridari argued that international effort in Afganistan lacked effective public diplomacy strategy to listen to the Afghan people and deliver on their very basic expectation.

Haridari wrote that article in late 2008. Now he may be pleased to know that there is arguably an intetresting development of public diplomacy in Afganistan. Operation Moshtarak in Afghanistan is very different from other operations carried by the International Stabilisaton Force in Afghanistan (ISAF). Operation Moshtarak which means 'together' is people centred operation. The aim is to chase as many Taliban as possible and keep the fighting and the civilian casulties to a minimu. The hope is to win the support of local residents even at the expense of letting Taliban get away.

http://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/index.php/newswire/cpdblog_detail/challenges_and_opportunities_in_afghanistan/