Laraib Nisar
With the sudden shift in the power structure in Afghanistan and the mass exodus of key human resource from the country, Afghanistan didn’t only face a total lack of governance for some days but also witnessed a collapse of the public services sector. The situation in Afghanistan created space for uncertainty which led to an increase in the confusion and misery of the common Afghans.
Pakistan has been playing a key role in the assistance of the fellow country on humanitarian grounds not only in the food and commodities sector but also in the human capital domain. In its effort to help Afghanistan in these times due to absence of efficient leadership, the Afghan Studies Center, functioning under the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) Islamabad, arranged the 31st Pak-Afghan Youth Workshop on the theme ‘Acing the Art of Leadership’, with the objective to bring the youth from both countries together and to inculcate leadership values in the young minds, as they are the future leaders.
The workshop commenced with a brainstorming session aimed at pinpointing the root causes of Afghanistan’s failures and deficiencies. The Afghan participants agreed that the corrupt and inefficient nature of the successive Afghan governments and leadership was the main reason behind Afghanistan’s downfall, and asserted that an efficient, responsible, and honest leadership is the only solution for Afghanistan’s problems. Building upon that, the workshop covered key areas like why is leadership training essential for Afghanistan, what leadership qualities in Afghan power runners will help the country in escaping the West-decided fate of the country, and how can the youth grasp values and establish habits that might bring change in their country.
Highlighting the significance of leadership, the trainer sensitized the youth from both sides about how an efficient political, economic, social, military, and religious leadership can pull Afghanistan out of the multi-faceted crisis it is being faced with, along with enlightening the participants about the qualities and principles that converts common individuals into leaders e.g., accountability, honesty, integrity, communication, far-sightedness, flexibility, and responsibility etc. and motivated the youth from both sides to establish these habits.
Moreover, it is worth mentioning that though the Afghani students were quite vocal about the deficiencies in their leadership that dragged them down to their current situation, most of the Pakistani students were unaware of the political and democratic history of both the countries. The training acted as a platform to not only bring the youth from both the countries together, but also encouraged them to engage and find ways that can help both the countries in developing.
Towards the conclusion, the group of young individuals from both the countries were well versed with the qualities that are essential for their national growth and development and had the vision that a country cannot achieve excellent leadership unless the common public has leadership qualities, as a leader emerges from the grass-root level.
