The Afghan people have different views on the Bonn II Conference, which was held on December 5 in Bonn, Germany. Many of them are calling the conference useful while others are not optimistic about seeing the commitments enacted.
www.bamdad.af has prepared this report based on the views of Afghan citizens, released through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter and other Weblogs.
Sarloch Muradzai, a journalist, writes about the differences between the Bonn I and the Bonn II conferences in www.granafghanistan.com, saying “The Bonn I was chaired by the international community, but Afghans were able to take the lead in the Bonn II.”
He further argues that many Afghans are happy about the Bonn II Conference because it did not repeat the Bonn I Conference’s faults and shortcomings.
“The Bonn I Conference handed over the power to the warlords, mafia and some jihadi factions and ignored democrats, mediators and peace loving individuals’ presence in forming the Interim Administration of Afghanistan. This situation intensified the problems and opened the door for neighboring countries’ interventions,” Muradzai writes.
Ahmad Samim, a member of the Afghan Reformist Group, which is working through Facebook and Twitter, describes the Bonn II Conference as ‘very important for Afghanistan’. He writes that Afghanistan was the main focus point for the discussion in the conference and the international community recommitted its promises. He also raises concerns over absence of the political parties in the conference.
“That will challenge the Afghan government for the next ten years,” he adds.
“In the Bonn II Conference, the international community conditioned its commitments to Afghanistan,” said Taj Mohammad, a resident of Kabul city. “It remains unclear who is to observe whether the given promises are implemented. I don’t think the promises made by the Afghan government will come into action, because it had repeatedly promised to tackle corruption, but no action has yet been taken whereas corruption is increasing by the day.”
But Dr. Mohammad Ismail, a nongovernmental organization employee, is not happy with the outcomes of the conference.
“I am not very optimistic about the Bonn II Conference because of the absence of the Taliban.”
He says that it was Pakistan’s policy to boycott the conference, but still there is hope to stabilize a sustainable peace in Afghanistan.
Hakim Sayeedi, a Facebook user, writes “The Bonn II was very important for Afghanistan and more than 100 countries and international organizations recommitted their promises and long term support to Afghanistan.” He believes that the absence of neighboring countries did not affect the conference. “Some neighboring countries dreamed to change the conference for their own interests, some of them even did not show up. But all was for the best of Afghanistan and their loss.”
“The Bonn II was very important for Afghanistan and more than 100 countries and international organizations recommitted their promises and long term support to Afghanistan.”
He believes the absence of Pakistan at the conference turned to benefit rather than loss for Afghanistan. Pakistan has widely been described as fearing an independent, stabile, strong and developed Afghanistan. “Pakistan has been making every effort to have a puppet government in Afghanistan,” he writes.
www.negahzan.org, an official website of the Afghan Women Network, has released a video report about the conference. The report mentions that the civil society delegation for Bonn II met with delegations from different countries and exchanged ideas on human rights and women rights in Afghanistan. It also talks about the Afghan government’s promises to tackle corruption and stabilize peace in the country.
Some in the video are not that optimistic about the results of the conference.
“I don’t think the promises given by the Afghan government in the conference are to be implemented,” said Noor Oryiakhil, a lecturer in Kardan Private University. “The government had made many promises, but none came to fruition. It is very difficult to tackle corruption with Mr. Karzai’s current Cabinet, since from the Cabinet to the Parliament all high ranking officials are corrupted.”
Faazel Wazir Helamand, a journalist, has compared the Bonn I Conference with the Bonn II Conference. He mentioned that the three years after the Bonn I Conference were golden years for Afghanistan. The country developed extraordinarily, reconstruction and rehabilitation started, and a big change occurred.
“Unfortunately, Afghan people could experience this situation no longer than three years.” He believes that the Bonn II Conference was totally different from the Bonn I. “The Bonn I Conference was chaired by the international community, but the Afghan government took the lead in the Bonn II Conference. This shows that now Afghan people have a government to handle such events.”
