A US media/intelligentsia delegation visited CRSS Tuesday, December 12, 2017, for a roundtable on Pakistan’s current situation. The roundtable also touched on regional issues such as Afghanistan, Pakistan’s relations with the US, India, and China. American visitors were curious to know as to whether the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) means China has replaced the US in Pakistan’s geostrategic calculus.

Executive Director Imtiaz Gul, and Director Strategy and Programs Zeeshan Salahuddin gave the delegation a tour through Pakistan’s socio-political and economic landscape.

Both explained that the goal for peace in Afghanistan will remain elusive and American stated policy questionable as long as they efforts excluded the other big neighbor of Afghanistan, i.e., Iran as well as the Central Asian Republics and Russia. Pakistan alone cannot be the solution to Afghanistan’s problems. Nor should it be singled out for violence in that country, Gul explained.

Both Gul and Salahuddin also explained why CPEC has injected new life into Pakistan to the context of a hostile international environment, exacerbated by the Indian narrative on the country. The Trump administration, by elevating India in its strategic calculus, has unnecessarily raised alarm in Pakistan and drawn it much closer to China. Under CPEC more than $62 billion in Chinese investment during the next 15 years will lead to a network of roads, rails, communications, special economic zones, and power plants in Pakistan. The corridor aims to provide landlocked western China access to international markets through the southwestern Pakistani Arabian Sea port of Gwadar while addressing Islamabad’s energy needs and economic development. Beijing considers CPEC as the flagship project of its global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The delegation was also briefed on the major players inside Pakistan, the country’s slowly improving security and economic situation, and political landscape. The frank discussion culminated with US-Pakistan ties, and how the two countries need to continue strategic cooperation to drive mutual interests.