You are cordially invited to attend a lecture on the topic of
A Year On: Current Events in Taliban Afghanistan
with
Mr. Mohibullah Noori
Founder of the Heart of Asia Nations Integration Movement & Fmr. Policy Director for the National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Thursday, September 8, 2022
4:00-5:00 PM EDT
The Institute of World Politics
1521 16th St. NW
Washington D.C. 20036
Marlatt Mansion, Commodore Barry Room
Getting to campus
About the Lecture: With one year going by after the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan, the fundamental question remains in the minds of the people most affected: is the Taliban able to bring stability to the nation and form a legitimate government in the country?
A short introduction covering The Bonn Agreement (Post-9/11 and the U.S.’s sacrifices and achievements in Afghanistan) and The Doha Agreement (Failures of the peace process, the withdrawal of American forces, collapse of the Afghan government, and violent return of Taliban) will begin the lecture.
The first part of this lecture will focus on “a blind spot in the world and a voiceless nation,” addressing questions of what happened to the government, the democratic institutions, and values that led to the culminating point of the Taliban’s takeover and their rule thus far? How has the Taliban behaved toward women; ethnic, religious, and political groups; and former members of government and ANDSF in the past year? Topics of unemployment, poverty, and the current security situation including the resurgence of ISIS and other terrorist groups’ activity over the past year will be discussed.
The second part of the lecture will focus on the reaction of the Resistance forces in opposition to the Taliban, which includes former government members, and defense and security forces in their ranks.
The final part of the lecture will address the salient question of whether the Taliban has fulfilled its end of the Doha Agreement’s commitments. These commitments can be categorized into three parts: the Taliban and its connection to international terrorist organizations; the establishment of a genuine Intra-Afghan peace process; and the Taliban’s (as a would-be legitimate governing entity) relationship with the surrounding region and its actors. The lecture will conclude with suggestions and solutions for the failings of the Taliban and their governing system in Afghanistan.
About the Speaker: Mr. Mohibullah Noori is a modern and moderate politician resisting on behalf of democracy and regional integration within Afghanistan. He is the leader of the Heart of Asia Nations Integration Movement and former Policy Director at the National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Mr. Noori has written several books on regional integration policy and has been an advocate for this idea since 2001. He is known in Afghanistan for his ideas on the Fajristan Civilizational Region, Heart of Asia Regional Order, and Government of Peace. He believes that, in order to bring lasting peace to Afghanistan, there is a need for a Government of Peace based on three principal agreements: national agreement on a moderate, democratic, and decentralized system to appropriately reflect the diversity of the country; partnership with the neighboring countries on a regional integration policy; and global agreement on a neutrality policy with the great powers to prevent Afghanistan’s “Ukrainization.”
Mr. Noori was born into an era of Communism in a country under invasion by the former Soviet Union, where he witnessed increased acts of terrorism by proxy groups such as Hizb-e-Islami, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS (1996-2021). In 1998, while still a student, the Taliban captured his hometown of Taloqan for the first time, because of his family’s political background, detaining and jailing Mr. Noori. He was later exchanged with another prisoner by Amir Khan Mutaqi, who now serves as the Taliban Foreign Minister. After 9/11, a new chapter and a democratic era began with the support of the U.S., and at that time, Mr. Noori founded and led a number of organizations. This included the Afghanistan Youth Cultural Foundation/AYCF, through which he contributed to youth progress, mobilized a large number of young people — some of whom grew on to become high-ranking government and society leaders, and organized significant cultural and social activities across the country. He also founded Takharistan Radio, a locally broadcasted media agency partnered with InterNEWS and based in the U.S. which is committed to democratic broadcasting. Heart of Asia Nations Integration Movement/HANIM, which advocates regional integration with neighboring countries, and Fajristan Institute of Higher Education, which educates over 1,000 students yearly.
Mr. Noori achieved high levels of academic success by earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kabul in Law and Political Science, a Master’s Degree in Political Science and Public Administration from Pune University-India, a diploma in International Relations and Human Rights from Pune College, and a Post-Graduate diploma in Security and Strategic Studies from the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy.
In 2011, when he was a Ph.D. candidate at Pune University in India, he learned that the Taliban had assassinated his brother, Major General Shahjahan Noori, a charismatic and highly respected leader both within the National Defense and Security Forces as well as among the people of Afghanistan. This tragedy galvanized Mr. Noori to pause his educational journey and return home to care for his brother’s family and take on the responsibility of entering government service.
Upon returning to Afghanistan, Mr. Noori was appointed by President Karzai as the Deputy Director of Policy and Oversight in the National Security Council. In his role on the NSC, Mr. Noori was responsible for assessing national security threats, drafting defense and security policies, and working directly with the leadership of the Afghan National Defense and Security forces and U.S./NATO advisers. In 2013, while working at the NSC, Mr. Noori survived a terrorist attack from the Taliban. Later, he was promoted to Director of Policy by President Ashraf Ghani. During that time, he had worked with President Ghani’s National Security Advisors, U.S./NATO Advisers, and leadership of over 350,000 Afghan National Defense/Security Forces, led over a thousand interdepartmental committees, and drafted over a thousand national security policies, strategies, and plans.
In 2019, Mr. Noori moved to the Chief Executive Office of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to serve as Legal Adviser to CEO and later as the Chairman of the Reintegration Commission in the High Council for National Reconciliation. In this role, he was responsible for working with different governmental and international agencies to draft a roadmap for Taliban reintegration into the government.
Mr. Noori, outside of his job with the government, was also personally involved in politics. Daily he had meetings with people from throughout Afghanistan and met with political leaders on issues facing Afghan citizens, mobilized turnout for political elections, and founded the Afghanistan Northeastern People Council. Mr. Noori was nominated in 2021 by over 100 Members of Parliament to serve as Interior Minister, receiving significant public support.
In June 2021, the Taliban offensive began in its seizure of Afghanistan provinces, which again targeted Mr. Noori’s hometown of Takhar province, but this time, Mr. Noori, as a recognized public figure in the request of people, government officials, and, in coordination with the Defense Minister, entered Takhar to mobilize people and local communities in support of National Defense and Security Forces to defend the city. Even after two months of resistance, Takhar, and later the national capital of Kabul, fell to the Taliban, and Mr. Noori was forced to evacuate the country for the United States.
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