Afghanistan – Peace Research Institute Oslo

02/03/2023
Ethics of Humanitarian Action: Webinars on Syria, Afghanistan

Both the Ethics of Humanitarian Neutrality in Syria and the Red Lines for Humanitarian Aid in Afghanistan webinars were recorded and can be streamed via the seminar webpages.

29/08/2022
Funding for Project on China's 'Developmental Peace' Approach

PRIO has received funding from the Research Council of Norway for the 3-year project Developmental Peace? Local Perceptions of China’s Engagement in Pakistan and Afghanistan (AsiaPeace).

31/05/2022
Next Steps toward New Insights on Migration, Development and Policy from MIGNEX

Successful MIGNEX consortium meeting in Istanbul, with inspiring discussion as the project members continue to build new knowledge on migration, development and policy.

08/11/2021
Moscow Pulled Between Afghanistan and Syria

In an article for UIK Panorama, Research Professor Pavel Baev writes about the inherent weaknesses in Russia's capacity to pursue an ambitious foreign policy, which are getting exposed in the wake Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.

04/10/2021
Dialogue Forum on Afghanistan, Taliban and the UN Security Council

The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs are organizing a series of thematic roundtable meetings about current issues on the Security Council's agenda. The situation in Afghanistan was topic for the third of these meetings on 30 September 2021.

14/09/2021
Workshop on Ethical Issues in Peace Negotiations and Mediation

On 9-10 September 2021, around 20 researchers met for a hybrid online-offline workshop to share their research on specific cases of ethical issues in peace negotiations and mediation. The workshop was part of the PRIO project 'On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation' (FAIR) and included both PRIO researchers and researchers from across the world.

18/02/2021
The Impact of Gulf Rivalries on the Afghan Peace Process

In a new policy brief on the importance of a neighborly concert for Afghan peace, Kristian Berg Harpviken examines the present state of affairs in each of the main regions surrounding Afghanistan: Central Asia, South Asia and the Gulf. Qatar, having hosted the intra-Afghan peace talks, currently stands out as the winner, not only because it hosted a high-profile peace process, but also because it has been able to use its relevance to the US in managing the diplomatic offensive of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries over the past several years.

06/12/2019
MIGNEX Team Selects Local Areas for Data Collection

The large PRIO-led project MIGNEX examines migration and development at the local level across Africa and Asia. A milestone was reached when the specific research areas were selected.

08/02/2018
Afghanistan Week 2018 is Approaching

Please note the dates: 13 - 17 March, and have a look at the programme as it now stands. New events will be added as plans are finalized.

Welcome to the Afghanistan Week 2018!

26/05/2017
Successful Spring Seminar Series on the Psychology of Political Struggle

The seminar series «PSYOPS: The Psychology of Political Struggle» aims to bring academics and professionals from different disciplines and fields of experience together to discuss topics in the borderland between psychology and politics.

The PSYOPS series is a collaboration between the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the Department of Psychology at the University of Oslo and Psychology Students Without Borders (PUG).

The series represents a concrete outcome of the Memorandum of Understanding between PRIO and the University of Oslo to increase more collaboration.

06/10/2016
PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update (Issue 3-2016)

The third 2016 issue of the PRIO Gender, Peace and Security Update is now out.

The lead story in this issue looks at approaches to integrating gender into foreign policy, with examples from Australia and Sweden. The story is based on talks by Professor Jacqui True (Monash University) and Professor Karin Aggestam (Lund University) at the recent PRIO seminar 'Gender in Foreign Policy', held on 23 September 2016.

26/08/2016
The Programme for the Afghanistan Week 2016 is out!

The Afghanistan Week is joint effort by PRIO, the Norwegian Afghanistan Committe (NAC), and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI). Our aim is to bring Afghanistan and Afghan issues to the top of the Norwegian agenda.

15/07/2016
Iran and its Relationship to Afghanistan After the Nuclear Deal

A new PRIO paper by Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh and Mohammad Fazeli highlights how the conclusion of the nuclear deal and the lifting of the sanctions on Iran can be expected to alter relations with Afghanistan.

10/06/2016
Robert Mood on Afghanistan and the Limits to Military Force

In this commentary on the PRIO blog, General Lieutnant Robert Mood reflects on the military intervention in Afghanistan, successful in its immediate goal of bringing about regime change, but challenged in its longer term goals of contributing to build a functioning state. The responsibility for stabilisation and security, once you have removed a regime, is difficult to fulfill. Yet, says Mood, ‘once you have removed a regime, you become the regime’. This reflects back on the insufficiency of the military instrument itself, which can only be constructive if working in sync with a strong civilian effort.

03/05/2016
Evaluating Assisted Return

Many asylum seekers who opt for assisted return come home to countries ruined by war and conflicts. More than half of the persons who return to countries like Afghanistan and Iraq plan to remigrate. A new evaluation of assisted return programms shows that small and uncostly changes can increase the chances that people stay.

22/03/2016
New PRIO Paper on Regional Responses to Radicalization in Afghanistan

PRIO Associate Researcher Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh has just published a PRIO Paper entitled 'Regional Responses to Radicalization in Afghanistan: Obstacles, Opportunities and an Agenda for Action'. The paper is an output of the project Afghanistan in a Neighbourhood Perspective, funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Download paper here.

30/03/2015
Afghanistan Week 2015

The second Afghanistan Week was organized last week by the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee, CMI and PRIO. The week can be summed up as a great success, gathering hundreds of people for almost 20 different events. Blog posts published during the week can be read here.

24/03/2015
A Young and Fragile Time in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s “youth boom” means that the country has a large generation of young people with high expectations for a better future – and high levels of frustration. Such a situation provides fertile ground for radicalization.

Afghanistan’s population is estimated to have grown by as much as 2.4 per cent in 2014, and around 68 per cent of the total population is under 25 years of age. The absence of a strong and responsive state means that young Afghans’ prospects and quality of life are blighted by lack of security, poverty, drug dependency, lack of educational opportunities, and unemployment.

This is one of several blog posts published on the occasion of the Afghanistan Week 2015.