Akaash Maharaj addresses the NATO Parliamentary Assembly

In October, DPIR alumnus Akaash Maharaj (PPE, St Edmund Hall, 1990) was invited to address the Annual Session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, in his capacity as CEO of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption.

Drawing on the experience of Afghanistan, he addressed the question of how NATO conduct a future expeditionary campaign, which might be precipitated by an attack on one of its members. This is a topic which is now all the more urgent, following the 13 November terror attacks in Paris.

Akaash has since written an article in the National Post, which argues that, “The lessons of Afghanistan were purchased at a bitter cost: the war claimed more lives, more years, and more money than any other campaign in NATO’s history.  Unless the alliance takes those lessons to heart, a war in Syria and Iraq to extinguish Daesh — the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant — will be worse.”

His full article can be read at http://maharaj.ca/1NgvziG