Conference Concept

CAS-V-2026, the latest edition of Mosaic’s flagship policy dialogue, advances the multi-year effort to rethink Afghanistan’s governance as part of the broader Reimagining the State project, and in response to the political, humanitarian, security, and economic crises that have emerged since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021. The challenge remains structural and historical: designing a viable future system while preparing for the realities of transition.

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From Roadmaps to Collective Deliberation

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CAS‑III‑2024 brought major political and resistance groups together to present their proposals. CAS‑IV‑2025 launched the Comprehensive Composite Roadmap (CCR), consolidated by the CCR Working Group and facilitated by Mosaic. The CCR established a shared analytical foundation for Afghanistan’s opposition. It synthesised more than 20 proposals from political actors, civil society and resistance groups, with roughly 90% overlap across core concepts such as inclusive representation, fundamental rights and equality, including gender equality. The remaining 10% of issues regarding which there were “national differences” – (i) approaches to change (talking vs fighting), (ii) the role of the international community to bring change, (iii) institutional questions (centralised vs decentralised or federal systems), (iv) questions of national identity and symbols and finally (v) addressing historical structural injustices – were debated in dedicated panels to initiate serious dialogue. 

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Strategic Advantage and the Coordination Gap

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Afghanistan’s democratic opposition has significant strengths: deep management experience, policy expertise, and extensive human capital across diaspora and domestic networks. The challenge is not capability but coordination of this vast knowledge base to produce action.

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Political Convergence Framework (PCF): from an idea to practice

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The Political Convergence Framework (PCF) – a structured mechanism proposed by the CCR to unify political actors, civil society organisations (including women’s organisations) and resistance movements, experts and different strata of society – is the engine of future change. These groups need to participate actively in the PCF alongside specialists and human rights organisations. The PCF will include:

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    •    a founding charter
    •    membership criteria
    •    a coordinating secretariat

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This framework provides the institutional backbone required to transform fragmented activities into cohesive political action. A practical discussion of the steps required to construct the PCF is in order. The outcome of these discussions would provide a blueprint for political actors to establish the PCF.

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Core Objective for 2026: Convergence with Operational Capacity

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As this process enters its third year, consultations must broaden to include representatives of human rights groups and diverse societal stakeholders, ensuring that the CCR takes into account the full breadth of Afghanistan’s constituencies, rather than only reflecting the views of political actors only. These deliberations must also align with UN-led initiatives, including the UN Independent Assessment on Afghanistan - Resolution 2679 (2023) - led by Special Coordinator Feridun Sinirlioğlu, in support of efforts to reorient UNAMA’s mandate towards a political transition to inclusive governance. The CCR must now evolve from a conceptual framework into a practical instrument, a guideline, capable of shaping political action.

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CAS-V-2026 aims to transform the CCR from a technical document into a political, civil, institutional, and diplomatic process that fleshes out the logic of transition. To this end, it aspires to embed mechanisms that enable coordination, acceptance, and implementation among Afghanistan’s stakeholders and international actors. The CCR must become an action-oriented manual for changing the status quo.

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Central to this transformation is the development of structured interfaces with Afghanistan’s diverse communities. Alongside a digital consultation platform, including a survey promoted through social media, that engages networks within the country and across the diaspora, three simultaneous consultative mechanisms will guide this phase:
 

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   1.    Consultative Council: bringing together political, civil, resistance, and women’s groups to build broad acceptance of the CCR.
   2.    Specialist Dialogues: engaging experts across applied sciences, humanities, development, peace studies, human rights, journalism, economics, geopolitics, security and technology, as a political transition requires technical expertise capable of translating governance principles into implementable public policy.
   3.    Human Rights Organisations: ensuring rights-based perspectives are integrated into the CCR’s evolution, including the UN resolution on Women, Peace and Security 1325 (2000). 

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These consultations will include a concise, inclusive Cambridge Declaration — either during the conference or shortly after — articulating shared principles that resonate with communities in Afghanistan and across the diaspora. As a key conference deliverable, the Cambridge Declaration will serve as the first step towards finalising a) the PCF’s founding charter, b) membership criteria and c) coordinating secretariat.

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Regional Developments: Emphasising the Importance of Proactive Measures

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Rapid shifts in regional geopolitics heighten the urgency of this work. Pakistan’s recalibrations, instability in Iran, changing dynamics in Central Asia, China, and Russia and growing dissatisfaction in the Islamic world (particularly in the Gulf) with the Taliban’s distortion of religion all point to a moment of flux. Combined with fractures within the Taliban regime, this environment demands a proactive, coordinated democratic alternative.

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A Distinct Strategic Approach

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Unlike previous opposition efforts, the CCR-PCF model avoids parallel agendas and competing structures. It aims to become a credible, coherent, consensus-building instrument capable of serving as the vehicle of Afghanistan’s transition.

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Vision for Transition 2027

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The ultimate output of this process is the preparation of Afghanistan’s democratic opposition for a political transition by 2027, grounded in the CCR’s vision, by inviting actors to bring the PFC into existence. Achieving this requires sustained engagement with regional and international stakeholders to ensure legitimacy, diplomatic traction, and operational viability.