December 17-18, 2015
The Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) held the third “Afghanistan-Central Asia Dialogue-III (ACAD-III)” in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan on December 17-18, 2015. This year’s Dialogue was devoted to discuss, «Connectivity: Opportunities and Obstacles». The acting governor of Balkh Gen. Atta Mohammad Noor and the AISS director Dr. Moradian inaugurated the dialogue.

The conference, which was held at the Baran Imperatory Hotel, attended by representative from Afghanistan, 15 nations and international organizations, local authorities in Balkh, Balkh National Council representatives and Ambassadors of the countries of Central Asia in Afghanistan.
During the first day of this dialogue, there were four working sessions held under the following themes: 1) Mapping Mutual Perception of Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics, 2) Economic Opportunities, 3) Physical Connectivity; Trans-regional projects and 4) Political Connectivity; Shared Security Threats.

The second day of the dialogue consisted of two working sessions, in addition to the way forward session. The fifth session discussed the Cultural Connectivity; Geo-cultural mapping and the sixth session focused on Afghanistan’s Transformation Decade: Challenges and Opportunities. The Afghanistan-Central Asia Dialogue (ACAD) is an international annual forum which aims to help promote mutual understanding and finding common and practical cooperation in the areas of political dialogue, security coordination, economic cooperation and cultural exchanges.

More information on (ACAD) series is available on AISS website