This event, organised by the SDA, the British Council, and NATO, on the role of cultural relations in conflict prevention and resolution drew a large and expectant crowd. The conference demonstrated how “cultural” projects on the ground were improving dialogue, and hence playing a part in both preventing conflict and healing post-conflict wounds. Initiatives in the spotlight were those attempting to re-establish forgotten traditions and preserve cultural heritage, while others focused on the arts as a way of bringing cultures together. Perhaps British Council Chief Executive Martin Davidson best summed up the British Council’s position when he said that the aim of improving cultural relations was to build trust and engagement through the exchange of ideas.
Much of the debate, however, dealt with cultural relations in the field of conflict resolution, which put the spotlight directly on Afghanistan. At a previous SDA event, a NATO representative had stressed that the Alliance’s comprehensive approach meant all international bodies working together. Now, 18 months on, NATO’s Deputy Branch Chief Joint Operations Colonel Per Mikkelsen admitted that the Alliance was on a learning curve. NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Operations Martin Howard agreed that pre-deployment training in this area was probably not enough and that civil-military operations in Afghanistan needed cultural issues and relations to be embedded in the overall planning.
An exit poll of the conference indicated that over 90% of participants strongly agreed that there was indeed a role for cultural relations in conflict prevention and resolution. Most would agree that while military force alone could never be sufficient in future conflicts, any comprehensive approach had to ensure maximum awareness of the cultural norms and mores “on the ground”. They would also have felt, however, that the discussions had introduced a patchwork of projects and that much work remained to be done.
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