Afghan observers say new generation of leaders needed to solve crisis.

The agenda of an upcoming conference on Afghanistan's security in Germany, Pakistan's interference and influence in Afghanistan and the performance of Afghan political leaders were the main topics of a one-hour Goftman (Discussion) talk show on Tolo TV on 23 February 2011.

The participants in the talk show were Afghan University lecturer Daud Moradian, one of the participants of the 2001 Bonn Conference Dr Amin Farhang, Harun Mir, the head of the Research and Studies Centre for Afghanistan's Policies, and Nader Naderi, a deputy head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) who was also a participant in the 2001 Bonn Conference.

All the participants criticized Afghan political leaders for failing to identify Afghanistan's national interests in order to put an end to the crisis in the country, though they were positive in general about the upcoming Bonn Conference on Afghanistan.

Achievements of the 2001 Bonn Conference

Dr Farhang expressed optimism about the achievements of the 2001 Bonn Conference, though he said that there were a number of setbacks in implementing the Bonn conference decisions.

Dr Farhang said: "We had a number of achievements in some areas, after the conference, but we had a number of setbacks in this process too. We failed to achieve self-reliance and self-defence, despite the existing possibilities. In the first stages [after Bonn conference] we made tangible achievements in establishing a new government. We managed to approve a good constitution, revive parliament despite a number of challenges and a free and unprecedented for the region open media has been taking shape. We also managed to restore our judicial, educational systems, the security apparatus and rebuild part of our infrastructure."

He added that the country failed to achieve anything substantial in terms of maintaining security and ensuring economic …