- October 05, 2021
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- May 20, 2025
On October 5, 2021, Aspen Institute Germany hosted a Brown Bag Lunch on the topic “The Taliban’s Seizure of Power: A Lesson Learned?” with Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi, Executive Director of the Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF). Following the Taliban’s seizure of power, the situation of Afghan civilians has been highly alarming. Political progress and social freedoms fought for over a timespan of 20 years have been wiped out in just a few weeks. The video footage of desperate Afghan citizens crowding into the Kabul airport shocked us all and now raises questions about the responsibility and success of German foreign policy. Has the Western model failed? What consequences do we draw from the defeat of this mission? What are the long-term consequences of this war that we face as a society?
We discussed these and many other questions together with a small group of our members over a light lunch. For this, Dr. Almut Wieland-Karimi gave an opening statement as our expert. From 2002 to 2005 she built up the representative office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Kabul (Afghanistan). She is also a Member of the Advisory Board of the Federal Academy for Security Policy and the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College. Her dissertation was on the role of religious leaders in Afghanistan at the Humboldt University in Berlin. The informal panel was moderated by Aspen Germany’s Executive Director, Dr. Stormy-Annika Mildner.
