Aleeza Qureishi, Contributor
Featured image courtesy of ASAE
A new student club called Afghan Students Against Extremism has emerged at York. The club will be hosting their first event on March 2 with the Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians.
“This organization is about how to combat extremism in and around Afghanistan,” says founder and president of ASAE, Ali Aziz.
“That means, we focus on two things: regional organized terrorist organizations (ISIS), and what we call extremist culture.”
Aziz explains extremist culture as a country’s susceptibility to radical right-wing terrorist organizations after it suffers severe damage and decimation as a result of war. He thinks more can be done about this and there are political approaches that need to be considered in order to overcome this kind of extremist culture.
The first step is by securing the Afghan-Pakistan border, which according to Aziz, is heavily unsecured. As result of its insecure nature, terrorist organizations are able to seek refuge and escape legal repercussions in the FATA regions of Pakistan.
“I’d say that getting a serious dialogue started inside Afghanistan about securing the border is one thing we aim to achieve. As of this moment, it’s not even a priority for the Afghan government, which only employs about 14,000 border patrol officers in a country that has a 3,400 mile international border,” says Aziz.
Aziz is passionate about his cause and is determined to start a different conversation within the community regarding the political situation surrounding terrorism.
ASAE is a secular club and emphasizes the importance of diversity.
“We welcome all members regardless of ethnicity, faith, and gender and would encourage anyone interested in the topic to join,” says Aziz.
“Extremism is an issue which can snowball and affect everyone as we’ve seen with the Afghan and Syrian refugee crisis for a long time now.”
ASAE’s event with the Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians will give people some history and background into Afghanistan and the surrounding region, the issues that led them here, and finally the way forward for Afghanistan.
“It’s meant to help raise awareness about what we argue is one of the most important first steps you can take toward combating extremism and that is the Afghan-Pakistan border.”
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