Former Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Idrees Zaman described Afghanistan as the fulcrum of regional stability, arguing that the region’s future hinged on how Central and South Asia manage the Afghan challenge. Regional peace, he emphasised, remains impossible without Afghan peace. He spoke of competing security doctrines that have fragmented — rather than integrated — the Afghan state, and highlighted the negative influence of criminal networks and non-state actors, which he said have produced a kind of “strategic paralysis.”
Senator Mushahid Hussain, speaking on great-power politics and international security, described the world as being in a moment of profound transition. In his view, three centuries of Western dominance are fading, and “the West as we knew it no longer exists.” Citing Iran’s challenge to Israeli military superiority and India’s inability to impose a “new normal” on Pakistan, he argued that US primacy is giving way to China’s rise. He noted that 140 UN member states now trade more with China than with the United States, calling China’s ascent “unstoppable.” On American politics, he characterised President Trump as neither a product of the US deep state nor accountable to the military-industrial complex, predicting major foreign-policy shifts in the coming years.
Daniel F Runde, Senior Adviser to the President at CSIS, struck a notably optimistic tone on US-Pakistan relations. He argued that ties between the two countries are currently the strongest they have been in 15 years and that, for the first time, Washington is viewing Pakistan outside the lens of India, China or Afghanistan. He praised President Trump’s willingness to “walk the extra mile” for peace and described India as simply “part of the furniture” in the region. Looking ahead, he predicted that Pakistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of copper,” potentially tripling its GDP over the next two decades. He urged Pakistan to leverage US support for securing gas via the TAPI pipeline and to pursue tourism growth comparable to Indonesia’s. His message for Pakistan was unequivocal: “make hay while the sun shines.”
Responding to Runde, Dr Victor Zhikai Gao, Vice President of the Center for China and Globalization, congratulated Pakistan on what he termed its “air victory” against India, calling it a victory for peace. Challenging the notion that Pakistan should seize temporary opportunities, he said that “true friends stand together day and night,” adding that the “sun of China-Pakistan friendship shines forever.” Gao dismissed concerns over growing US-Pakistan ties, saying China’s only concern is how Pakistan manages its bilateral relationship with Beijing. He questioned US intentions by pointing out that President Trump had even renamed the position of Defense Secretary to ‘War Secretary.’ Unipolarity, he warned, is destabilising, while China remains committed not to the Thucydidean notion of inevitable conflict but to the “inevitability of peace.”
Desmond Bowen, Associate Fellow at IISS and a former senior UK civil servant, described a world returning to spheres of influence. The US and China, he said, are locked in strategic efforts to contain one another. From Europe’s vantage point, the continent remains consumed by the war in Ukraine, with Russia locked in confrontation with the West — and with the possibility of further aggression ahead. He warned that the lines of power are already drawn, leaving little space for optimism. Ukraine’s freedom, he argued, is inseparable from Europe’s own.
Dr Moeed Yusuf, the former National Security Advisor of Pakistan, painted a picture of a South Asia mired in disorder. He categorised states as either “standard takers” or “standard seekers,” and argued that the future international system will be shaped by issue-based coalitions among middle powers. For Pakistan, he said, the most pressing challenge remains Afghanistan — where he sees no indication that Kabul’s posture toward Islamabad will soften. He proposed decoupling economic and security issues and mobilising middle-power partnerships to address the Afghan dilemma.
Listening to many distinguished speakers over the course of two days, one could not miss a pressing reality that the world will keep facing a variety of challenges. As we leave the unipolar moment and the challenges it brought behind us, we will be faced with an entirely new set of challenges in this multipolar moment. The United States, which presided over the introduction and implementation of a rule-based order, is now witnessing the collapse of the very same order. More and more countries are losing hope in the ability of the United States to ensure global peace and security, and that is leading to a change in the traditional security architecture.
States today believe in building their own military might. The UN Security Council remains deadlocked because of political divisions, and there remains no central authority to create and sustain peace and order in the world. The world, it seems, is arming itself more for confrontation than cooperation, and organisations like the United Nations, which is the largest multilateral organisation in the world, or even the OIC, which is the second largest multilateral organisation in the world are failing to come up to the global and regional expectations. War in Europe and the Middle East dominated the first half of this year, and there seems to be little evidence that more conflicts will not follow, given the repeated failure of diplomacy in cases such as Pakistan’s issue with Afghanistan and Europe’s concern about Russian aggression in Ukraine.
In sum, the Margalla Dialogue offered a rare platform for candid, often competing visions of a rapidly changing world. It brought together diverse perspectives on some of the most pressing geopolitical challenges of our time – leaving the audience more informed, and perhaps more aware, of the shifting currents that will define the future global order.