The joint virtual session among the Iranian Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS), the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies and the Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses about the Afghan Peace Process and regional cooperation was held on Tuesday, March 31, 2021.  

The session was attended by Dr.Mohammad KazemSajjadpour, Deputy Minister of MOFA & President of IPIS; Mr.Majid Ghafelebashi, Research Deputy at the Center; Saeid Ghaderi, Hossein Ebrahimkhani and Farjad Amin, Senior Experts at IPIS, on one side,

and,

Sujan Chinoy, President of the Indian Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses; Davood Moradian, President of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies; Shoaib Rahim, Vishal Chandra, Yahya Akhlaqi, Prasanta Pradhan, Ashok Behuria and Arian Sharifi, Top Experts of said institute, on the other side.

The session was held in the form of three panels, “Afghan peace Process”, “Communicational and Economic relations”, and “ Regional Cooperation and Ways Forward.”

Here are the most important issues touched upon at the session:

• The world today is faced with numerous challenges including the corona pandemic, which has disrupted a variety of ordinary global trends, especially trade and communications. However, there is optimism that through international cooperation and global vaccination the conditions will improve, especially in health, economic and trade terms.
• Terrorism and extremism are a serious and widespread problem in the region. These terrorist groups intend to return the conditions in Afghanistan to the previous instable situation. For this, it is necessary that all countries take action against this challenge by unity and joint efforts.
• At present, Afghanistan is entangled in a difficult transitional situation. Violence and instability still reign and the peace process and the talks among various Afghan factions have had little progress. These circumstances show that cooperation among surrounding countries such as Iran and India in Afghanistan can help improve peace and stability in Afghanistan.
• The present-day Afghanistan needs peace at home and regional consensus among adjacent countries. Therefore, all regional actors have to cooperate and support an enduring political agreement and comprehensive ceasefire in Afghanistan so that, on one side, the achievements gained by Afghanistan over the past two decades are preserved, and on the other side, sustainable peace and security is secured for this country.
• The current regional processes show that, investment, trade, economic, and communicational cooperation, especially in transportation is of paramount importance. Therefore, Iran, Afghanistan and India should do their best to broaden cooperation and communication in all areas, considering the existing capacities. Developing the Chabahar project is one of these cases that should be considered more than ever.