As a part of the Afghanistan Strategic Learning Initiative, IDS led a workshop exploring needs and vulnerability in Afghanistan. Leveraging the collective knowledge and experience of leading global think tanks working on Afghanistan and aid issues, the resulting report will be based on analysis of the drivers of need and vulnerability in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US and Allied troops, and the Taliban’s assumption of power.
At IDS, ASLI sits under the Humanitarian Learning Centre (HLC), which leads a number of core research projects, bringing together high-quality analysis, dialogue and debate with accessible, operational learning to improve humanitarian response, practice and policy.
About the Afghanistan Strategic Learning Initiative
The initiative has been convened with the support of the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub and the donor, the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, in partnership with the Center for Global Development (CGD), Chatham House, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), ODI and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-Development Assistance Committee (OECD-DAC).
Between December 2021 and February 2022, ASLI convened four workshops led by each of the partner organisations in turn. The workshops brought together senior leaders, decision-makers, experts, researchers and practitioners to discuss what comes next for foreign aid in Afghanistan. The lead organisation for each workshop published an accompanying paper, of which this is one.
The first workshop, led by Chatham House on 17 December 2021, explored four potential scenarios for Afghanistan’s political, economic, and security trajectory over the next 18–24 months. The second workshop, led by IDS on 28 January 2022, explored need and vulnerability, tying the drivers of these conditions to the scenarios outlined by Chatham House. The third workshop, led by CGD on 9 February, assessed options for future aid instruments and mechanisms to address the financial crisis. The fourth workshop, for which a background note was distributed to participants, was led by ODI on 28 February and focused on options for collective action.
Following the workshops and papers, ASLI published a synthesis paper that summarises options for effective international engagement with a changed Afghanistan.
ASLI seeks to leverage the collective knowledge and experience of leading global thinktanks working on Afghanistan and aid issues. Our goal is to make a coherent and evidence-based contribution to emerging and ongoing work addressing development and vulnerability in Afghanistan.
Research Panel Event
Chatham House Event – What Next for Afghanistan?
This event was held on 26 May 2022. The recording will be available shortly.
Read the ASLI reports
Afghanistan Scenarios: Challenges and way forward for humanitarian intervention in 2022-23; Chatham House
Hameed Hakimi and Gareth Price
Needs and Vulnerability in Afghanistan; Institute of Development Studies
Jeremy Allouche, Lewis Sida, Tina Nelis and Sofya Shahab
Crafting the International Response in Afghanistan: Options to Enable Financial Flows and Promote “Beyond-Humanitarian” Aid; Center for Global Development
Sarah Rose and Michael Pisa
Recalibrating relations with Afghanistan; ODI
Alastair McKechnie, Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, Mark Bowden, Marcus Manuel and Ed Laws
Confronting New Realities: Actions and Priorities for the International Community in Afghanistan; UKHIH Synthesis Paper
Mark Bowden, Hameed Hakimi and Ben Ramalingam
