Trans-Caspian Forum on Capitol Hill

The Trans-Caspian East-West Trade and Transit Corridor is a regional integrator, trade facilitator and viable transit connector between Europe and Asia. Comprising of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the west, and Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan Uzbekistan and Afghanistan to the east of the Caspian Sea, this corridor brings together more than 200 million strong market and 400 billion in overall trade while connecting economies of the European Union and China along with access to Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.

The Central Asia-Caucasus Institute invites you to join members of Congress, Congressional Staff and the delegates from the Trans-Caspian countries, to discuss emerging geopolitical importance of the bourgeoning energy and transportation network, as well as U.S. commercial interests arising from it.

Speakers:

Dr. Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi - Chief Advisor of the President of Afghanistan
Mr. Elmir Valizade - Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication, Azerbaijan
Mr. Genadi Arveladze - Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Georgia
Mr. Fatih Metin, Deputy Minister of Economy, Turkey
Deputy Minister of Investment, Kazakhstan (name TBC)

Moderator: Fred Starr, Chairman, Central-Asia Caucasus Institute at AFPC

Where: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2167, 45 Independence Ave. SW 20515

When: Monday, May 17, 2018 from 9:30 am - 11:00 am

RSVP: Click HERE to register

 How US Aid Builds - and Undermines - the Afghan State

Dr. Nematullah Bizhan, author of  Aid Paradoxes in Afghanistan: Building and Undermining the State, will present a disturbing critique of US and western aid to Afghanistan. Happily, he will also offer a prescription for fixing it. 

Speaker:
Dr. Nematullah Bizhan, Research Fellow, Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University and former Director General of Budget, Ministry of Finance, Afghanistan.

Moderator:  S. Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute

Where: The American Foreign Policy Council, 509 C Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

When: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

RSVP: Send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or follow the link to Eventbrite

 Read at The National Interest

 By S. Frederick Starr

With respect to Afghanistan, the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea and the major international financial institutions are all caught in a time warp. Dating back a century and a half, this distortion today impedes Afghanistan’s development as a normal country. No less, it helps isolate the other countries of Central Asia from a nearby major market, the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and pushes the other countries of Central Asia into a one-sided relationship with their former imperial overlord, Russia. It’s time to correct this long-standing mistake.

Article, The American Interest, March 17, 2017

S. Frederick Starr, Time to Re-Engage

Whipsawed by years of foreign policy activism and then by general retreat, the United States is at risk of losing an opportunity to cement hard-won gains in Central Asia/Afghanistan.