Peace and Prospects in Afghanistan
The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative will offer an investment boost, but only if safety is guaranteed first.
The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative will offer an investment boost, but only if safety is guaranteed first.
With deadly attacks on civilians, interpreters and the Afghan National Security Forces, the surge in violence after US and NATO troop withdrawal is demoralising the population at large.
The situation is a demonstration of bitter social and political divisions that continue to take their toll upon the country’s wellbeing and national interest.
Only by collaborating more openly as a region with a shared future can this area of the globe prosper, and it must, in turn, counter politics of unilateralism, hegemonism and geopolitical confrontation striving to divide, politicize, blame and cut the globe up into blocs.
The challenge to defeat the virus is ultimately a marathon, not a sprint; it’s the one which requires personal responsibility, sacrifice and endurance.
The United States has demonstrated itself to be one of the most dangerous locations to live through the pandemic, not least in a society which continues to be rampant with inequality, has uneven access to healthcare and inadequate public health information from authorities who prefer to cater to commercial interests and conspiracy theories.
While this is a time of crisis, China and its partners under the BRI umbrella, may now have the opportunity to create a shared future for mankind in the region and beyond.
If they can seriously improve their own infrastructure and do their utmost to help developing countries meet their needs, instead of playing the geopolitical zero-sum game, then different plans may well coexist or complement each other.
America is a land of contradictions. It’s a country whose government will hoard vaccines, then its people will refuse to take them.
Washington must overcome its prevailing Cold War mindset. Reviving Yellow Peril propaganda and past anti-Communist crusades is a policy dead end.
NATO is an institution based on not only a Cold War mentality, but an increasing orientation towards global military supremacy.
To date, the words of fair-minded philosophers have been drowned out by the hubbub of ideological, economic, and regional differences that has prevented an effective global response to Covid-19.