On Aug. 31, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted a Twitter Space discussion with USIP experts on how Afghanistan has changed over the past year, what it means for the country going forward, and ways U.S. and international policy can continue to support efforts for an inclusive and stable Afghanistan that recognizes the rights of all its citizens.

Scott Worden
Director, Afghanistan and Central Asia, U.S. Institute of Peace
@ScottRWorden

Kate Bateman
Senior Expert, Afghanistan, U.S. Institute of Peace
@katebatemandc

Belquis Ahmadi
Senior Program Officer, Afghanistan, U.S. Institute of Peace
@belquisa2

Asfandyar Mir
Senior Expert, Asia Center, U.S. Institute of Peace
@asfandyarmir

Andrew Watkins 
Senior Expert, Afghanistan, U.S. Institute of Peace
@and_huh_what

William Byrd
Senior Expert, Afghanistan, U.S. Institute of Peace
@BillBparenda

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/twitter-space-afghanistan-one-year-later

This week marks the one-year anniversary of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan. Despite pledges of moderation and reform from some Taliban factions, over the last year they have reinstated many of the harshest policies from their 1990s emirate, pushing women out of public life and brooking no dissent. For many Afghans — especially women, girls and ethnic and religious minorities — the threat of violence looms over daily life. U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights Rina Amiri discusses how Afghans' lives have changes over the last year, what brave Afghan women are doing to protest the rollback of their rights, and how the United States and international community can help.

Dubbed the “shadow pandemic” by the United Nations, gender-based violence rose dramatically during the COVID-19 crisis — particularly in fragile and conflict-affected contexts. On Aug. 4, USIP hosted the first event in our new series, YouthTalks. Organized by the USIP Youth Advisory Council, YouthTalks facilitates conversations between youth peacebuilders from conflict affected regions on key issues related to peace and security.

Paula Porras, welcoming and closing remarks 
Program Officer, Youth Program, U.S. Institute of Peace

Negar Ashtari Abay, framing remarks
Program Officer, Gender Policy and Strategy, U.S. Institute of Peace

Panel Discussion

Sophia Santi, moderator
Co-Chair, USIP Youth Advisory Council; USIP Generation Change Fellow

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/after-covid-how-can-youth-help-address-gender-based-violence

Religious restrictions and hostilities around the world have risen steadily over the past few decades, reaching an all-time high in 2018 — a trend that has only worsened with the COVID-19 pandemic. On Aug. 2, USIP and the University of Nottingham’s School of Politics and International Relations discussed a new report, Global Trends and Challenges to Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Jonathan Fox
Yehuda Avner Professor of Religion and Politics, Bar Ilan University

Jason Klocek
Senior Researcher, U.S. Institute of Peace; Assistant Professor of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham

Samirah Majumdar
Research Associate, Pew Research Center

Adam Nicholas Phillips
Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator and Executive Director of the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships Hub in the Bureau for Democracy, Development and Innovation at the U.S. Agency for International Development

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/protecting-and-promoting-freedom-religion-or-belief

On July 28, USIP, the Atlantic Council, the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the Sisterhood is Global Institute and the U.S Department of State joined to launch the U.S.-Afghan Consultative Mechanism.

Antony J. Blinken, keynote remarks
U.S. Secretary of State

Rina Amiri, moderator
U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights

Lise Grande, welcoming remarks
President and CEO, U.S. Institute of Peace

Palwasha Hassan
Senior Fellow, Institute for Women, Peace and Security, Georgetown University;
Founding Member, Afghan Women’s Network

Naheed Sarabi
Visiting Fellow, Center for Sustainable Development, the Brookings Institution

Asila Wardak
Senior Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University; Founding Member of the Women’s Forum on Afghanistan

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/engaging-afghan-women-and-civil-society-us-policymaking

Award-winning photojournalists Bill Gentile and Robert Nickelsberg began their careers reporting on the Cold War struggles that embroiled Central America in the 1980’s and 1990’s — a time when long-standing economic disparities and deep political divides erupted into irregular warfare throughout the region. On July 27, USIP hosted Gentile, Nickelsberg and José Luis Sanz for a reflection on the legacy of Cold War-era conflicts in Central America.

Bill Gentile
Journalist in Residence, School of Communication, American University

Robert Nickelsberg
Photojournalist specializing in political and cultural change
        
José Luis Sanz
Washington Correspondent, El Faro

Keith Mines, moderator 
Program Director, Latin America, U.S. Institute of Peace

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/images-central-americas-wars-and-its-unfinished-peace

With the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and an economy on the verge of collapse, Sri Lanka faces perhaps its worst crisis since independence in 1948. On July 25, USIP hosted a discussion on what’s next for Sri Lanka — from reforming the constitution to lessen the power of the presidency to finalizing a deal with the International Monetary Fund and Sri Lanka’s creditors to secure relief to the immediate economic crisis.

Amb. Prasad Kariyawasam
Former Foreign Secretary and Former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United States

Bhavani Fonseka
Senior Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives

Akhil Bery
Director of South Asia Initiatives, Asia Society Policy Institute

Ambika Satkunanathan
Former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka

Tamanna Salikuddin, moderator
Director, South Asia Programs, U.S. Institute of Peace

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/whats-next-sri-lanka

USIP and the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs hosted a conversation that attempted to pierce the veil of secrecy around recent events in Central Asia. A panel of scholars discussed how they view recent protests and tried to understand more broadly why governments in the region are suddenly struggling to keep things under control.

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/where-are-protests-and-crackdowns-central-asia-coming 

Assel Tutumlu
Associate Professor, Near East University

Suzanne Levi-Sanchez
Non-Resident Fellow, School of International Service, American University

Ivan U. K. Klyszcz 
Doctoral Candidate, University of Tartu 

Gavin Helf, moderator
Senior Expert, Central Asia, U.S. Institute of Peace 

USIP, the Simon Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the U.S. State Department hosted a discussion of the newly released U.S. Strategy to Anticipate, Prevent and Respond to Atrocities — as well as a look at the work the Atrocity Prevention Task Force has done over the past year as documented through its 2022 report to Congress as part of the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act.

Welcoming Remarks

Panel 1: Institutionalizing Atrocity Prevention 

Panel 2: Operationalizing Atrocity Prevention

Closing Remarks

On July 19, USIP held a conversation on the importance of documentation in the pursuit of accountability for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war — as well as lessons for current international accountability efforts for atrocities in other conflict-affected countries, such as Ukraine, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.

Valerie Hopkins
Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times

Paul Koring 
Attorney; Former Foreign Correspondent, The Globe and Mail

Emina Muzaferija
Researcher; Former Staff Member, U.N. International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

Gerard Toal 
Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech; Author of “Bosnia Remade: Ethnic Cleansing and Its Reversal” 

Ajla Terzic
Journalist; Author of “This Could Have Been a Simple Story”

Philippe Leroux-Martin, moderator
Director, Governance, Justice and Security, U.S. Institute of Peace; Author of “Diplomatic Counterinsurgency: Lessons from Bosnia and Herzegovina” 

For more information about this event, please visit: https://www.usip.org/events/documenting-impact-war-civilians-bosnia-and-herzegovina