Professional Documents
Culture Documents
February 2019
Pakistan has reached a pivotal moment that threaten to squander its recent
in its 70-plus-year history. achievements and new opportunities?
On the one hand, the country has This was the overarching question
recently achieved some major that inspired and informed a two-day
milestones. It has dealt a devastating conference at the Wilson Center in
blow to the once-ferocious threat of October 2018. The event, co-hosted
anti-state terrorism. It has graduated by the Wilson Center’s Asia Program
to the status of emerging market. It and the INDUS organization, and
has elected a new and non-dynastic entitled Pathways to Change: Pakistan
political party that promises to usher Policy Symposium, brought together
in a refreshing new era of clean and thought leaders—analysts, journalists,
efficient governance. And its foreign academics, diplomats, and business
policy—spearheaded by a China- people, among others—from both
financed transport corridor that affords countries to discuss Pakistan’s future
Pakistan new opportunities to become and to offer policy recommendations
integrated into the global economy, on how the country can best move
and by a deepening of relations with forward.
key regional players such as Turkey and
To prevent the symposium from getting
Russia—shows signs of entering a new
consigned to the category of one-off,
and positive phase.
quickly forgotten event, the Wilson
But at the same time, Pakistan is Center and INDUS have decided to
witnessing the emergence of a new put together a follow-up policy brief
generation of extremist organizations. series. The objective is to convey the
It is suffering through a serious balance perspectives and recommendations
of payments crisis. Longstanding shared by some of the conference
democratic challenges—from weak speakers in a set of concise essays.
civilian institutions to a military that
The essays featured here highlight
enjoys an outsize role in statecraft
the salient issues featured in the
and policy—remain entrenched. And
conference—issues that continue to
its foreign policy, which still struggles
play out in real time.
to develop deep partnerships beyond
its Saudi and Chinese allies, remains The first two essays assess U.S.-
framed by an India-centric lens and Pakistan relations. This up-and-down
hampered by a global image problem. relationship struggled during the first
year of the Trump administration’s term,
In effect, Pakistan faces new and
but it is now enjoying new life as the
in some cases unprecedented
two countries work together to bring
opportunities, but it also confronts a
the Taliban to the negotiating table in
series of major challenges both old and
an effort to end the U.S.-led war in
new.
Afghanistan. Salman Bashir, a former
How can Pakistan capitalize on its Pakistani foreign secretary, writes that
recent progress while conquering “Pakistan and the United States need
or at least managing the challenges to arrive at a common assessment of