Mushahid Hussain Sayed

A senator of Pakistan and Chairman of the Senate Defense and Defense Production Committee

There is a regional context to what is happening—the emergence of greater South Asia. South Asia is no longer an economic entity with the seven sub-continental states of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and the Maldives. It includes China; it includes Myanmar; it includes Afghanistan and Iran, woven together by cooperation. The recent signing of the Pakistan-China economic corridor is one indication of that.

The first challenge confronting Afghanistan is to avoid a new cold war or any kind of proxy war. Some countries see China as a so-called threat, and talk of containing China. I think this cold-war mentality in the 21st century is unacceptable.

The second challenge is the balance of power is shifting from the West to the East. It is an Asian century wherein China's peaceful rise is a source of stability and prosperity for the region. I think that should be welcomed.

The other challenge is the role of the United States. Though the U.S. military may downsize after ending the war, it still wants to maintain 20,000 troops in nine bases throughout Afghanistan.

Pakistan, as a friend and neighbor of Afghanistan, has suffered the most. Since June 2004, we have had 370 drone strikes in Pakistan, resulting in 4,700 casualties of whom less than 2 percent are militants, while the majority are civilians. We are housing 3 million Afghan refugees—2 million documented, 1 million undocumented.

As the interests of Pakistan and Afghanistan are intertwined, we have to work together. The time has come for decisions to be made not from Washington and London, but in the region—in Islamabad, Kabul, and of course Beijing.

Hamid Zaman

Advisor to the Bangladesh Institute Peace and Security Studies

Anxiety looms large in the mind of the people in South Asian countries as the U.S.-led NATO troops plan to withdraw the bulk of their forces from Afghanistan after 2014. This may lead to more crises in the region due to increasing competition.

This may not only see a partial meltdown of the Afghan security forces but may also cause various proxy wars that are currently playing out in the region. No peace initiative by intervention from big powers has been successful in recent years, especially in the Arab world.

This phenomenon became more vivid after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, when the world's power center became uni-polar. Peace in real terms is determined by the world's power house and sub-power house and not by its typical definition. In our regions, if the rising sub-power house does not maintain good people-to-people relations, it creates a sense of mistrust and misunderstanding. Historically, both the rising sub-power house and Afghanistan's immediate neighbors have had eyes on development in the country.

For a peaceful world, we should pay more attention to expanding education to allow people to understand what is better for them while honoring their socio-cultural and religious sentiments.

In that case, the big power house and sub-power house have to deal with historical irritants including Palestine and Kashmir, otherwise these problems will continue to plague peace initiatives. For an effective and peaceful environment internationally, power centers should be balanced.

The rising power house of China is very cautious about the development taking place around the world and is rightly building its strength and power economically. But too much inertness may leave it very little space to maneuver.

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