Scenario 2009

Scenario of the 2009 Stockholm Model United Nations

The scenarios of the 2009 SMUN conference are now completed and the Committee Guide on the issues that will be discussed in each committee can be found
here. To satisfy your curiosity, however, this is a brief introduction to this years’ choice of scenario.

As an area of unremitting global interest and as the subject of vigorous daily political debate, Afghanistan with its surrounding region has been selected as the common denominator of the topics of discussion for the conference. For decades, Afghanistan has been a troubled area in terms of stability and security. A crossroads between the East and West, Afghanistan has been both the target and the origin of successive waves of migration and invasion, and the victim of involvement from different states with interests at stake in the region.

The international community is highly engaged in the contemporary ongoing conflict, and reaching a secure, stable and sustainable situation in Afghanistan is of great concern to nations globally. The concept of security traditionally refers to the national security of a country. A different view on the concept of security, however, is Human Security, which holds that security of the people is necessary in enabling national, regional and global security. During this year’s SMUN conference, delegates will be discussing aspects of improving the human security for the individual Afghan citizen, foremost by discussing how the international community should act in the attempt of establishing, not only national security, but economic, personal and political security.

The Security Council: Cross-border Security Issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan
2008 was a turbulent year for Afghanistan and the surrounding region, as the security situation deteriorated and the Taliban regime amplified its offensive against the Afghan government and the international security forces, present under the mandate of a number of Security Council resolutions. The security incidents continued to increase during 2009, while the influence of Taliban belligerents in the west and north of the country concurrently heightened the violence and instability in these areas. One of the crucial problems is the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, where militants find safe haven from the international forces once they flee across the border to the Pakistani side.

Pakistan has, however, in the last year been forced to face the threat that the Taliban pose also to Pakistan’s internal stability, when the Taliban insurgency gained control of the Swat valley, a district of the North-West Frontier Province in December of 2008. The Taliban leadership swiftly introduced Sharia law in the area and, banning education for all girls, destroyed hundreds of schools. The Pakistani government initially opted to negotiate a ceasefire with the Taliban, accepting Sharia law in return for peace. In April of 2009, however, Pakistan announced that it would fight the Taliban in the Swat valley. In slightly over one month, the government had regained control of Swat and driven out the Taliban belligerents, but in the process the fighting caused a refugee crisis as several hundred thousand civilians fled the war zone.

While many remain suspicious of Pakistan’s earnestness in its efforts to undermine the Taliban’s influence in the region, the Pakistani intelligence services are repeatedly linked to insurgents, and the Pakistani security policy at large remains focused on the Pakistani state’s conceived main existential threat: India. It is increasingly clear that the conflict between Pakistan and India is a key factor for regional stability, and that the two nuclear powers must succeed in improving their relations in order to allow for a shift in Pakistan’s security policy to focus on tackling the Taliban insurgency and terrorist groups active within its borders.

Afghanistan’s central and land-locked geographical position and its many ethnic groups with ties to different regional powers, have caused much foreign interference which has been destructive and divisive for Afghanistan as a whole. The Security Council at SMUN 2009 is called upon to consider Afghanistan’s security problems from a regional perspective, and to discuss how other states that affect the security dynamics of the region can be encouraged to contribute to the stability of Afghanistan.

The Economic and Social Council: The Afghan Opium Trade – an Economic and Security Dilemma
Afghanistan is one of the largest producers of opium in the world, and the illegal trade of poppy is quite dominant in the current economic system of the country. The issue is complex, and no quick solution has been found to this vicious circle. Many experts stress the importance of combating poppy production because the profit of the trade often goes to terrorist leaders and the Taliban, thus financing the insurgency. At the same time, however, the poor security situation means that poppy cultivation is the best solution for the individual Afghan farmer to ensure his own security. An ordinary agricultural economy requires infrastructure, transport possibilities, market places, access to seeds and fertilizer, tools, and generally a large degree of stability and predictability which allows a farmer to trust that an investment made in spring will reap its fruits in autumn. In the current situation in Afghanistan, researchers say that poppy has become “a low-risk crop in a high-risk environment.”

Furthermore, another important sector of the current Afghan economy is the international development assistance, which in part endeavours to solve precisely the problems of lacking infrastructure mentioned above. Sadly, reports abound of corruption within the Afghan government and administration, and there are also apprehensions that some of the international aid money is eventually ending up in the hands of the Taliban through different schemes and demands of payment from local contractors in infrastructure projects to ensure the ‘protection’ of the construction.

Essentially, the complex topic that the Economic and Social Council at SMUN is asked to consider is this twofold challenge; how can we rebuild and revitalize the Afghan economy, and construct a healthy agricultural economy free from poppy cultivation, while also combating corruption and cutting the financing of the Taliban insurgency?

The Commission on the Status of Women: Improving the Lives of Women and Improving the State-Building Effort through Women
Women and girls are facing a difficult time in Afghanistan as they are re-integrating into the society after the oppression and isolation under the Taliban regime. The current situation in Afghanistan is not favouring women, as they are not naturally accepted into numerous working fields, as well as the education system. Despite laws and regulations regarding the rights of women, they are still not always practiced in reality. In order to ensure that women’s rights are respected as well as to certify the security of women, it is necessary to develop methods on how to make women a natural part of reconstructing the society, and how to make women’s rights to education and work a widespread accepted notion.

Furthermore, women have a crucial role to play in the reconstruction of the economic and social structures of the country. While there has been some improvement over the last few years, women face many such practical obstacles such as child birth and lack of health care for women, which hinder their full participation in public life. The topic of discussion for the Commission on the Status of Women, a functional committee of the Economic and Social Council, is therefore how the international community should act in order to improve the rights and ensure the welfare of women in Afghanistan, to guarantee their economic and social opportunities through education and health care, while also benefitting from the efforts and abilities of women in advancing the reconstruction and state-building efforts.