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By Katherine Hubbard

Last week’s blog post discussed how land disputes left unresolved can escalate into major crises, but land tenure reform is necessary for more than just crisis prevention.  Even when land disputes are not the cause of the crisis, they are of critical importance in the post-conflict period.  The end of a prolonged armed conflict will see a large portion of the population claiming or reclaiming access to land, with important implications for return, recovery, and reintegration.  If these issues are overlooked, they are likely to threaten the fragile stability of post-conflict transitions.

by Nida Jafrani

In March 2009, President Obama brought to the table the idea of negotiating with “moderate elements” of the Taliban, pointing to the successful example of Sunni militias fighting al-Qaeda in Iraq. More recently, reconciliation was a key issue at the January 28th London Conference, where donors and President Karzai presented differing views about engaging the Taliban. A consensus between Washington, London, and Kabul about the details of negotiations has yet to be reached.  

By Katherine Hubbard

Many of Africa’s bloodiest conflicts have been blamed on tribal or ethnic politics, but according to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, there may be a different issue at the heart of these conflicts: land.  Some experts believe that Africa’s most famous tragedies could have been prevented with changes in national land law and better systems for conflict resolution over land disputes.  This first part of a two-part series on land tenure will examine the history of land disputes in Africa.

Mehlaqa Samdani

Violent religious extremism, in the form of sectarianism, existed in Pakistan long before the advent of the Taliban.  Prior to Taliban-instigated violence,  it was also the "principal source of terrorist activity in Pakistan" claiming more than two thousand lives over the past three decades.  While the Pakistani government has taken steps to curb Taliban activity in Pakistan, it has done little to rein in sectarian outfits as evidenced by the recent spate of intra-sectarian violence in Dera Ismail Khan and Faisalabad.

By Katherine Hubbard

The conflict in Somalia between the al Shabab Islamist militias and the transitional government of President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed is growing increasingly violent and forcing civilians from the capital city of Mogadishu to flee for their lives.  According to the UN, at least 8,000 residents have evacuated the capital in the past month due to the fighting.  Attacks from both sides have left civilians dead and maimed.  The International Committee of the Red Cross says that in their two hospitals in Mogadishu they have treated 1,500 war wounded this year.  Few children go to school, the infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world, and food is expensive and scarce.

Mehlaqa Samdani

As expected, no major breakthrough occurred as Pakistan and India concluded foreign-secretary level talks in New Delhi on Thursday. No joint statement was issued and there was "no mention of a second meeting".  Given the divergence in the two countries' priorities and interests, significant progress on major bilateral issues is unlikely in the near term and it will fall to civil society activists on both sides of the border to pressure their respective governments on Kashmir and terrorism.

On February 23 the Chicago Council on Global Affairs released a task force report entitled Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy.  The report focuses on the important role that religious communities play in the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, development assistance, the promotion of human rights, the protection of the environment, and the pursuit of peace.  It asserts that “the success of American diplomacy in the next decade will be measured in no small part by its ability to connect with the hundreds of millions of people throughout the world whose identity is defined by religion.”  For this report, the Chicago Council convened a task force of thirty-two experts and stakeholders – former government officials, religious leaders, heads of international organizations, and scholars – to bring a diverse perspective to the debate over how to successfully engage religion on an international level.  Among the task force members was Karen von Hippel, director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project.

Hi, I’m Nida Jafrani and I will be joining the Post-Conflict Reconstruction (PCR) team this spring. I grew up in Hoffman Estates, IL and graduated from the George Washington University in December 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and concentrations in Middle Eastern studies, Politics, and African studies. I can speak Urdu fluently and I am currently working on my Arabic. I spent a semester in Rabat, Morocco with AMIDEAST studying the Maghreb region, developing my spoken Arabic, and teaching English. I also participated in an intensive Urdu language program in Lucknow, India, through the U.S. Department of State.