Schiller Institute Helps Organize a Beautiful Future for Afghanistan

A groundbreaking conference was just held Nov. 6-8 in Kabul, Afghanistan, hosted by the Ibn Sina Research and Development Center. Titled: “Creating the Afghan Economic Miracle,” the conference has attracted scholars and guests from across Afghanistan and from other parts of the world. It’s stated aim is: “to present a comprehensive plan for the economic reconstruction of the entire country, with the goal to turn Afghanistan into a middle level-income country in the foreseeable future”.

In addition to Schiller Institute Chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, who spoke, via video, on the first day, an SI delegation of six attended in person, and held various presentations over the course of the proceedings, focused on various topics of the economic reconstruction of the country. Reports on their interventions will follow in the next issue.

Xinhua reports that Afghanistan’s acting Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai kicked off the event, and called upon Afghan and foreign companies to invest in the war-ravaged country, and for Afghans living abroad “to return home and rebuild their country.”

One of the top organizers said that a common comment that he got from participants was that they now have a real sense of hope for the future of the country and its development. Another commented after the first days’ proceedings that there is “a real sense that Afghanistan is taking charge of its own future. No funding for this conference came from outside the country.”

The press release put out by the Ibn Sina Research and Development Centre noted that while relieving the humanitarian crisis is a priority, there must also be “a nationwide program of basic infrastructure like transport, energy, water management, communications, education and health care. Only if these basics are built in the entire country can productive agriculture and industry be developed.

“For this goal, the Conference will present the economic plan called, ‘Operation Ibn Sina: The Coming Economic Miracle in Afghanistan,’ which has been worked out by the volunteer economists of the Schiller Institute, and provided to Afghan experts living abroad and in Afghanistan, to analyze and prioritize its goals.

“The transformation of Afghanistan into a stable, prosperous country is also in the interests of all of the country’s neighbors, since the geographic location of Afghanistan makes it an organic hub for much of the transport and trade between Central Asia, South Asia and Southwest Asia. The integration of Afghanistan into the corridors and infrastructure projects of the Belt and Road Initiative is in the interest of all of Eurasia, as well as of Afghanistan.

“This program and outlook is in the tradition of one of the greatest sons of Afghanistan, Ibn Sina, whose father was born in Balkh, in the north of the country, and who is one of the greatest physicians and universal thinkers of all time. What an excellent metaphor for a rich and beautiful future for Afghanistan!”