Reconciliation Process in Afghanistan and Pakistan as Cardinal Player

Afghanistan is in state of war for almost 40 long years but the political dynamics got changed after 9/11. Since the war on terror started facets of peace talks launched without meaningful end. The reconciliation process in Afghanistan had immediately started after establishment of Afghan interim government in 2001. Till 2016 mid, four different reconciliation /reintegration processes were launched by the USA and Hamid Karzai government with Afghan Taliban. The new elected president Ashraf Ghani ended all such processes in 2016 but showed willingness again in 2018 for direct peace talks between USA and Taliban clerics. In the current political scenario, Afghan reconciliation process is back on track with direct peace talks between USA, Taliban and Afghan Government along other international actors. However, Taliban were not ready to sit with the Afghan Government and this is where the Pakistan played as key to Afghan peace process. The focus of this research article is to find the challenges and opportunities of this peace process; Pakistan’s role as cardinal player can consolidate the peace process in Afghanistan. Furthermore, this research will give future recommendations for the peace process in Afghanistan.

Experimentation of Word Wall Strategy for Capacity Building of Primary Language Teachers and Grade Iv Students Through Vocabulary Development

The aim of this project was to experiment the Word Wall strategy for capacity building of primary teachers and grade IV students for vocabulary development. From needs analysis I came to know that vocabulary development is an urgent need of the school. Keeping in view the school's need, I planned and developed a participatory project to ensure sustainability of the project through equal and active involvement of two immediate stakeholders such as two primary language teachers and grade IV students. This project included three stages; planning, implementation and evaluation. Planning was involved in both pre-intervention and intervention stages. Pre-intervention encompassed development of action plan, orientation of the teachers to the Word Wall strategy and development of resources, and defining roles and responsibilities of project leader and teachers. It also included a pre-test that I conducted in order to evaluate students' current vocabulary knowledge. Setting a clear goal, objectives and activities were also a significant part of planning. Besides grade IV students' two language teachers were the direct beneficiaries of this project, and teachers' involvement throughout the process in planning, implementation and evaluation of Word Wall was significant. My role during the four demonstration lessons and two observations of teachers' teaching presentations remained as a clinical supervisor to facilitate and support teachers in developing Word Wall and its effective implementation in the classroom. The purpose of offering these activities was to enable teachers to provide multiple exposures to students for understanding of contextual meanings and retention of the vocabulary. The experience of experimenting Word Wall in a primary classroom revealed that continual addition of words on the wall ensured students' spelling accuracy and vocabulary retention. Moreover, Word Wall proved to be a motivational element for students' participation in reading, writing, speaking and listening activities. In the light of the project outcomes, it is suggested that the aforesaid strategy can be applied in similar contexts to expand students' vocabulary and develop their language skills and reading comprehension.