April 12, 2022

LISD is a founding co-sponsor of the Afghanistan Policy Lab at SPIA, which aims to help build an inclusive, peaceful, and prosperous Afghanistan that represents all its citizens equally. Please join us at a virtual opening ceremony on Thursday, April 14 at 4:30 PM, ET with remarks by LISD Director Andrew Moravcsik and LISD Founding Director Wolfgang Danspeckgruber.

The Afghanistan Reflection Team (ART) is an global network that developed by the Liechtenstein Institute (LISD) over 25 years of involvement with Afghanistan and the region. It fosters and coordinates research, evaluation, and policy recommendations on Afghanistan, while privileging inter-cultural and inter-religious respect and drawing on significant input from Afghans themselves. ART is directed by Prof. Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, LISD’s Founding Director.

As a contribution to the Afghan Policy Lab, ART will focus in particular on the many states in Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific region, and East Asia, as well as various international organizations, that are currently assessing alternative means to respond effectively to today’s crisis in Afghanistan and to assist individual men, women and children there. ART will initiate and sponsor relevant research, compile materials, encourage inclusive exchange,  formulate suggestions and policy proposals, and offer public and policy outreach concerning relevant activities of these countries. ART works with our partners within the Afghanistan Policy Lab to disseminate these findings among foreign policy-makers, journalists and commentators, and scholars.

This effort has three specific components. First, ART will convene and expand its existing group of experts, which includes officials, academics, experts, and representatives of the private and public sector and security from many states, as well as some of their US counterparts. Second, ART will initiate cooperation with leading international think tanks and universities concerned with Afghanistan. This will offer the opportunity to exchange information, develop new ideas and recommendations, co-sponsor events, issue publications and organize related activities - always cognizant of Afghanistan's cultural and religious identities. Third, ART will expand the conversation to include inter-generational perspectives on Afghanistan’s future by fostering the inclusion of younger experts and the next generation of scholars, practitioners and students, also by activating LISD alumni and bringing them together with young Afghans concerned about the future of their country.