17 May 2017

*** India, Pakistan and South Asia’s New Geopolitics


Perennial volatility between India and Pakistan has escalated further recently along their 2,064-mile border. While the historic antagonism between the two nuclear-armed powers remains the central risk, it is playing out today amid gains by radical insurgents in Afghanistan, probing by Russia and Iran, uncertainty over U.S. policy, and rapidly evolving economic ties between Pakistan and China. Join the U.S. Institute of Peace on May 15 for a discussion of the region’s shifting geopolitics and ways current trends might line up with U.S. interests. Photo Courtesy of Indian Press Information Bureau via The New York Times

The American goal of maintaining peace and stability in South Asia faces an increasingly complex set of challenges. Mutual accusations of support for terrorism and violent incidents along the Line of Control in Kashmir have inflamed the core India-Pakistan conflict. Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan also have deteriorated over terrorism and refugees. Initiatives by Iran and Russia may have complicated moves for reconciliation in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project is realigning regional relationships and economies. The panel will discuss what these developments mean for the future of the India-Pakistan relationship, and potential U.S. approaches in the region under the Trump administration. 

Join the conversation on Twitter #IndoPakGeoStrat
Speakers 

Yaqoob Bangash

Director, Centre for Governance and Policy, Information Technology University of Lahore 

Gurmeet Kanwal

Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi 

Dinshaw Mistry

Professor, Political Science and Asian Studies, University of Cincinnati 

Teresita Schaffer

U.S. Ambassador, Retired 

Moeed Yusuf, Moderator

Associate Vice President, Asia Center, U.S. Institute of Peace REGISTRATION OPEN

DETAILS 

Date: Monday, May 15, 2017

Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm

Location:

U.S. Institute of Peace

2301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037


By: Fred Strasser 

Across South Asia, complex strains of extremism are opening the way for the Islamic State and destabilizing governments. From elements in the Afghan Taliban to the ascent of Hindu nationalism in India, extremists are drawing the region deeper into volatile internal and external conflicts, according to experts on religion and extremism speaking recently at the U.S. Institute of Peace. There are no quick ways to reverse the trend, they said. But steps that could slow radicalization include bolstering free speech, attacking terrorists’ financial networks and undermining the myth that a long-ago caliphate ruled over a perfect society.


China’s policy on the Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan has a significant impact on regional stabilization and crisis management efforts in South Asia. Beijing also plays an important third-party role in helping deescalate hostilities between the two countries. This brief discusses the evolution of China’s Kashmir policies over the past several decades and examines Chinese cooperation with the United States during periods of crises between the South Asian rivals. 

By: Fred Strasser 

Relations between India and Pakistan are becoming less predictable as nationalist sentiments in India heighten political pressure there to escalate its response to clashes in the disputed territory of Kashmir, specialists on the two states said. The incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump should develop clearer U.S. policies to ease strains between the nuclear-armed states, the analysts said at the U.S. Institute of Peace. 

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