PRESS CONFERENCE: Koichiro Tanaka, Professor, Keio University

11:00-12:00 Friday, August 27, 2021
The speech and Q & A will be in English.

One of the biggest regime-change surprises in recent history was the swift fall of Kabul and the Afghan government to the Taliban. The Taliban takeover seems to suggest that the situation may have been "encouraged" by American officials who have been coordinating with shadow rulers of the country through the Doha agreement, thus giving the Taliban a kind of legitimacy. As the Taliban appears to be "talking nicely but acting harshly," the prospects for Afghanistan and the geo-poltical impact on East Asia and Japan are anything but clear.

What went wrong and what should we expect next? What is the Taliban, in terms as both reality and myth, and what is the significance of recent events for the the role of Japan and the international community? The Professional Activities Committee has invited Professor Koichiro Tanaka to discuss these issues.

Tanaka, who has spoken at the club before, is a former Political Affairs Officer at United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan and has worked under Ambassadors Vendrell and Brahimi. Tanaka san also monitored Afghan elections to the Loya Jirga, the legal assembly. He was a member of the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat's Ad Hoc Committee on Assistance to Afghanistan (2010.)

How to attend: Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Due to space restrictions attendance will be limited to 20 people. Doors open 30 minutes before the event. Please sign in, giving your name and contact details at the reception, and have your temperature taken before proceeding. 

How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live 　
Livestreaming of the press events will be available and video of this event will be uploaded to our FCCJ YouTube channel. 

How to ask questions: https://forms.gle/7Lcb5PhsLmUKpFJ49　
Members watching the event online can submit questions for the speakers in advance using this submission form (English only).

TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 45 minutes before the event. There will be five positions available for livestreaming. 

Professional Activities Committee