Thousands of miles away from their homeland, Afghan political figures, civil society actors, and human rights advocates are working to draft a blueprint for a future Afghanistan free from Taliban rule. Unlike past political formulas designed by foreign powers, the Cambridge Afghanistan Series aims to provide a collaborative space where Afghans themselves can establish the principles, institutions, and transition sequences necessary to reclaim their country's political path.
Organized by the Mosaic Global Foundation, the fifth installment of this initiative, known as CAS V, will take place on September 4 and 5 at Jesus College, Cambridge. The gathering will bring together a diverse array of Afghan stakeholders, including political voices, civil society representatives, academics, and human rights advocates, to discuss pathways toward long-term peace, inclusion, and prosperity.
The foundation for the upcoming discussions was laid during previous sessions. At CAS III in 2024, six major political factions, including two prominent armed resistance groups, presented their strategic visions for the country. Although these groups have public divisions, an independent assessment commissioned by the Mosaic Global Foundation revealed that more than 90 percent of their proposals overlapped in substance. Building on this discovery, CAS IV in 2025 initiated open discussions regarding the remaining areas of disagreement.
While complete political unity is not expected given the diverse histories, constituencies, and grievances of the participating actors, observers noted that the gathering of different ethnic backgrounds and political currents represented a hopeful search for an Afghan-led solution. Amid the Taliban's efforts to eliminate political plurality within Afghanistan, the dialogue allowed participants to engage across their differences while celebrating Afghan culture with traditional food, music, and a dedicated "Poetry Night."
A major outcome of CAS IV was the creation of the Comprehensive Composite Roadmap (CCR), produced by an Independent Working Group facilitated by Mosaic. This group consolidated 21 different roadmaps and proposals submitted by political parties, civil society organizations, and armed resistance groups into a single, synthesized document.
Ahead of CAS V, organizers are expanding the consultation process to include specialists, human rights organizations, and religious scholars, or ulema. This expansion aims to ensure that the CCR reflects a highly inclusive range of perspectives from all strata of Afghan society. The CCR is built upon three non-negotiable commitments: a government chosen by the Afghan people, respect for human rights, and guaranteed equality, including gender equality. To achieve these goals, the roadmap proposes a transition structured around a national dialogue, regional peace dialogues, and international consensus facilitated by a United Nations-led process.
At the center of this strategy is the proposed Political Convergence Framework. This mechanism seeks to unite anti-Taliban armed resistance groups, political parties, civil society organizations, women's movements, religious scholars, youth, journalists, professional groups, and diaspora representatives. The framework's initial duties would include adopting a founding charter, establishing a joint secretariat, drafting a detailed transition plan, coordinating internal resistance and civil actions, and managing regional and international diplomacy.
Following this phase, the roadmap outlines a sequence that includes an international conference, the creation of a preparatory committee, the formation of a representative Constituent Assembly, and the establishment of a merit-based transitional government. The Constituent Assembly would oversee legal matters and draft a new constitution, while the transitional government would maintain public order, build essential institutions, prepare free elections, and ultimately hand over authority to a democratically elected government.
This specific sequence is based on the premise that simply removing the Taliban will not resolve the underlying questions that have historically destabilized Afghanistan, such as how political authority is distributed and how diverse ethnic, linguistic, religious, and gender groups can be protected and represented without resorting to rigid communal quotas.
Organizers and participants emphasize that this initiative must avoid the mistakes of past reconstruction efforts, such as the 2001 Bonn process. That process reduced political rebuilding to a mechanical redistribution of power and a quota system for elite rotation, rather than establishing a representative system built on broad citizen participation, public consent, and accountable institutions. To prevent CAS V from becoming a closed agreement among familiar political elites, the process must connect political negotiations to citizen rights, public accountability, and a fair constitutional process.
Furthermore, the 10 percent of issues where Afghan groups still disagree must not be ignored. Significant differences remain regarding centralization versus decentralization, whether to engage with or fight the Taliban, the role of international actors, territorial integrity, and the mechanisms needed to correct structural inequalities. Addressing these critical questions of power distribution and national identity will be a primary task for the upcoming talks.
To remain meaningful, CAS V must establish clear guidelines on how representatives are selected, how women and communities inside Afghanistan can influence decisions, and how discussions will be communicated to Afghans who cannot attend the meetings in Cambridge. Participants stress that women must have genuine pathways of influence rather than serving as symbolic figures while male politicians negotiate, and those facing repression inside Afghanistan must have secure channels to contribute to the process.
While a conference in Cambridge cannot independently end Taliban rule or substitute for domestic political organization, the CCR seeks to challenge the fatalism of treating current Taliban rule as an unchangeable reality by offering a coherent, democratic alternative. The ultimate success of CAS V will depend on whether its participants can establish a fair, collaborative process while continuing to navigate their internal disagreements.
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The CCR emerged from a process that began at CAS III in 2024. Six major political groups were invited to present their strategic proposals, while an expert panel reviewed 12 roadmaps and proposals in total. The dialogue revealed more than 90 percent overlap among these initiatives in their strategic positions. An indep
