Beyond Boundaries

The Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), in partnership with its Afghan counterpart organizations, has been implementing a unique Pakistan-Afghanistan Track 1.5/ II initiative titled: “Beyond Boundaries” since October 2015 as part of its efforts to help improve relations between the two countries and enhance people to people contacts.

The project has successfully completed two phases which comprised an unprecedented series of twelve meetings supported by the UK government, bringing together 100 Afghan and Pakistani security and civil society experts, not only in the capitals of both countries but also other major cities, to discuss bilateral acrimony, address grievances, and help deescalate tensions. Beyond Boundaries has been a conscious effort to bridge the gulf of mistrust between the two neighbors and encourage networking among group members to help improve local perceptions for the other side.

The Phase I of the project – which ran through October 2015 to March 2016 – bringing together Afghan and Pakistani security and civil society experts for an unprecedented series of six meetings to discuss bilateral acrimony, help deescalate the heightened tensions, soothe the bitter context and explore ways of improved cooperation between the two neighbors. The Phase II of Beyond Boundaries was completed from August 2016 to March 2017, which successfully convened six more meetings; formulating ​​Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC) with members representing parliamentarians, security experts, retired civil and military bureaucrats, senior media persons, and civil society activists from both the countries and addressed the same goals in a more focused manner.

The Phase II of the project built on the successful outcome of its prequel which did a good job of initial ice-breaking, scene setting and laid foundation for result-oriented conversations and structured dialogue to generate more actionable policy recommendations during the phase II around the identified issues of border management, security, easement of formal bilateral and transit trade, refugees, education, health, arts and culture, media, and intellectual exchanges.

The Pak-Afghan groups, through these dialogues, had captive interactions to formulate policy recommendations and held high level strategic meetings with senior government and non-government stakeholders to share the policy recommendations during their visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan. Besides the dialogue and strategic sideline meetings, through a devised strategic communication strategy the members of both Pak-Afghan groups participated in several media interactions including prime time TV talk shows on leading TV channels in both the countries.

The visits also included university lectures by the selected members from both sides to build understanding of the ​​academia/ ​​university students on the situation in both countries, complexities of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and criticality of engagement through non-security approach. The aim was to gradually improve perceptions on both sides and help them become force-multipliers. The details of the project are as under.

CRSS in consortium with SaferWorld and Organization for Economic Studies and Peace (OESP) has started the Phase III of Beyond Boundaries from October 2017 which will run through March 2020. The Phase III kick started with the first meeting of Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Committee groups in Kabul from December 14-17, 2017.