The Centre for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) was pleased to host a delegation from Singapore from March 16 through March 22, 2008.

Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at the S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Ms. Susan Sim, Senior Fellow, ICPVTR, and Mr. Mark Jason Jevanathan from the Home Team Academy (HTA), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Singapore were members of this delegation.

During their familiarization visit to Afghanistan, the delegation met with various senior Afghan government officials and members of the international community, including Mr. Chris Alexander, Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General; and General Dan McNeil, COM-ISAF. The meetings focused on discussing the key security challenges in Afghanistan and the efforts in motion to address the same.

The delegation also visited CAPS where the Director of the Centre, Mr. Hekmat Karzai, along with his staff, gave a comprehensive briefing on the Centre, its research agenda, key projects and administration. After the briefing, Dr. Rohan Gunaratna gave his remarks on the history of terrorism research and the importance of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the global war on terrorism (GWOT). The meeting was followed by a traditional Afghan dinner.