Afghanistan is facing multiple problems; encompassing growing insurgency, poverty, corruption, illiteracy, mounting insecurity, political instability and deepening woes of political victimization.
The multitude of problems find solution, internally by a vibrant and visionary leadership's increasing political participation and activities and externally by strengthening political, regional, ideological and economical ties with different countries across the globe. Non-aligned Movement summit that took place at Tehran recently granted an opportunity to war-torn Afghanistan in thickening its relationship with many countries, diverting their attention in thinning its multilateral problems.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai accompanied by an extravagant delegation of 70 officials attended the Non-Allied Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran, where more than 100 countries and 29 heads of states or governments and many international organizations and envoys from 120 countries including UN Security General Ban-ki-Moon, attended two days summit, that ended at the expert level on Sunday.
President Karzai, in his speech while thanking Iran for its warm hospitality said that Afghanistan would continue to support NAM for its struggle to overcome the challenges laying ahead in our globe; assuring, the strategic agreement between Afghanistan and some countries would not affect Afghanistan's commitment towards NAM.
President Karzai added that the emergence of new economic powers eventually created multi-polar economy in the world, saying in such circumstances, majority of the NAM members are in a position that can play vital role in ensuring balanced power in international affairs and efforts for the improvement of international organizations including IMF, World Bank, supporting the general assembly of the United Nations, balancing economy and democratic world order.
President Karzai also described terrorism as a big obstacle on the way to achieve peace in the region, defeating it requires regional and international cooperation and his government is ready to talk with those oppositions who renounce violence, break ties with terrorists and accept the constitution of Afghanistan.
President Karzai also expressed concern over the situation in Palestine, supported the creation of independent Palestinian state and expressed sympathy with the people of Syria and calling on warring sides to seek peaceful solution.
The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states considering themselves not aligned formally with or against any major power bloc. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members and 17 observer countries. In a speech given during the Havana Declaration of 1979,Fidel Castro said the purpose of the organization is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics".
The countries of the Non-Aligned Movement represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nation's members and contain 55% of the world population. Membership is particularly concentrated in countries considered to be developing or part of the Third World.
A significant milestone in the development of the Non-Aligned Movement was the 1955 Bandung Conference, a conference of Asian and African states hosted by Indonesian President Sukarno, who gave a significant contribution to promote this movement.
The attending nations declared their desire not to become involved in the Cold War and adopted a "declaration on promotion of world peace and cooperation". Six years after Bandung, an initiative of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito led to the first Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries, which was held in September 1961 in Belgrade. The term non aligned movement appears first in the fifth conference in 1976, where participating countries are denoted as members of the movement.
At the Lusaka Conference in September 1970, the member nations added as aims of the movement the peaceful resolution of disputes and the refraining from the big power military alliances and pacts. Another added aim was opposition to stationing of military bases in foreign countries.
Secretary Generals of the NAM had included such diverse figures as Suharto, an authoritarian anti-communist, and Nelson Mandela, a democratic socialist and famous anti-apartheid activist. Consisting of many governments with vastly different ideologies, the Non-Aligned Movement is unified by its commitment to world peace and security. At the seventh summit held in New Delhi in March 1983, the movement described itself as "history's biggest peace movement". The movement places equal emphasis on disarmament. NAM's commitment to peace pre-dates its formal institutionalization in 1961.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the NAM also sponsored campaigns for restructuring commercial relations between developed and developing nations, namely the New International Economic Order (NIEO), and its cultural offspring, the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO). The latter, on its own, sparked a Non-Aligned initiative on cooperation for communications, the Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool, created in 1975 and later converted into the NAM News Network in 2005.
The Non-Aligned Movement espouses policies and practices of cooperation, especially those that are multilateral and provide mutual benefit to all those involved. Many of the members of the Non-Aligned Movement are also members of the United Nations. Both organizations have a stated policy of peaceful cooperation, yet the successes the NAM has had with multilateral agreements tend to be ignored by the larger, western and developed nation dominated UN.
The Non-Aligned Movement has played a major role in various ideological conflicts throughout its existence, including extreme opposition to apartheid regimes and support of liberation movements in various locations, including Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The support for these sorts of movements stems from a belief that every state has the right to base its policies and practices with national interests in mind and not as a result of relations to a particular power bloc. The Non-Aligned Movement has become a voice of support for issues facing developing nations and it still contains ideals that are legitimate within this context.
The movement has emphasized its principles of multilateralism, equality, and mutual non-aggression in attempting to become a stronger voice for the global South, and an instrument that can be utilized to promote the needs of member nations at the international level and strengthen their political leverage when negotiating with developed nations. In its efforts to advance Southern interests, the movement has stressed the importance of cooperation and unity amongst member states.
The movement continues to see a role for itself, as in its view, the world's-poorest nations remain exploited and marginalized, no longer by opposing superpowers, but rather in a uni-polar world, and it is Western hegemony and neo-colonialism that the movement has really re-aligned itself against. It opposes foreign occupation, interference in internal affairs, and aggressive unilateral measures, but it has also shifted to focus on the socio-economic challenges facing member states, especially the inequalities manifested by globalization and the implications of neo-liberal policies. The Non-Aligned Movement has identified economic underdevelopment, poverty, and social injustices as growing threats to peace and security.
As in the past, cohesion remains a problem since the size of the organization and the divergence of agendas and allegiances present the ongoing potential for fragmentation. While agreement on basic principles has been smooth, taking definitive action vis-à-vis particular international issues has been rare, with the movement preferring to assert its criticism or support rather than pass hard-line resolutions.
Have the leaders of NAM any proposals to restore life to the bloc to confront the challenges in peace and security within the member states? It is high time for NAM leaders to design a new roadmap with new goals and commitments otherwise the summit would be just a public relations exercise.