"Afghanistan: Where Do We Stand?"

On January 22, 2004 Mr. Robert P. Finn, who was the United States ambassador to Afghanistan from March 2002 until August 2003, presented the lecture "Afghanistan: Where Do We Stand?" at Indiana University Bloomington. In his lecture Ambassador Finn discusses changes in Afghanistan since September 11, 2001.

Finn is the Ertegun Visiting Professor in the Near East Studies Department of Princeton University where he was on the faculty prior to serving as the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. Finn's lecture was part of the Chancellor's Forum series at IUB.

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• Introduction by Prof. M. Nazif Shahrani, Chair, IU Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
  
• Opening remarks by Ambassador Robert Finn - What things happened and how things happened in Afghanistan
  
• After 9/11 attack on America, formation of international coalition - example of destruction by the taliban and al qaeda - absence of basic infrastructure in Afghanistan - rebuilding will provide security and enhance commerce
  
• "The problem of reconstruction in Afghanistan has several important factors that interface with one another."
  
Factors:


Amount of assistance


Communications systems


Education
Factors:


Security and peace


Government and the rule of law


Power of the purse
Factors:


Governmental capacity


Private investment


Security
Factors:


Ethnic groups


Communications among participants


Reassurance from the international

community
• New Afghan constitution
  
• Afghan economics
  
• Al qaeda and the taliban
  
• Summary