Speaking at a conference chaired by Senator Sherry Rehman titled ‘The Road to 2016: Negotiating Deadlock and Diplomacy with India and Afghanistan’, participants discussed Jinnah Institute’s Track II diplomacy efforts for building sustained channels of bilateral and multilateral engagements and for offering alternative recommendations on regional policy issues.

The latest spate of terrorist attacks in the Middle East and Bangladesh and the unfortunate, indiscriminate killings in Paris have highlighted how misinterpretation of culture, rituals and religious beliefs are affecting peace and stability all over the world. It has also drawn attention to the politicisation of faith and its consequent repercussions. [...] This process [of cultural diplomacy] is reducing the impact of differences in cultures becoming catalyst for conflict.

The University of Arkansas hosted more than 60 U.S. Department of State-sponsored Fulbright Program participants from Afghanistan as part of a Fulbright Enrichment Seminar last week. The program helped increase their knowledge of U.S. academic life, culture and history.

In 1972, a young Geography professor named Christian Jung started the only U.S.-based research center for the study of Afghanistan at the university in Omaha. [...] A few years later, after graduate school in Indiana and a return to Afghanistan under a Fullbright fellowship, Gouttierre took up basketball coaching again for Kabul University. 

The inaugural Lincoln Center Global Exchange in New York on Friday brought together international leaders, stars and guest speakers including Barry Diller, chairman of IAC, parent company of The Daily Beast—explored "how art and culture can become even more effective in fostering healthy citizens, vibrant cities and strong communities.”

India remains an integral part of Afghanistan’s steady progress in institutionalizing peace, pluralism, and prosperity. Ties between Afghanistan and India go beyond the traditionally strong relations at the government level. [...] Moreover, in an effort to further solidify ties between Afghans and Indians, the Afghan Embassy in Delhi has initiated the creation of sister-city relations between major Indian cities and states and their Afghan counterparts. 

Activists in Afghanistan have called on international donors not to neglect women’s rights when they meet with the government in Kabul this weekend to reaffirm their commitments to peace and development.