Indo-Pacific

Pandemic response should not equal isolationism, Swedish FM argues

By David A. Wemer

International cooperation will be crucial not only to “fight the pandemic” of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), but also “to get us back on track afterwards,” Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ann Linde said on April 29. She stressed that while leaders remain focused on containing outbreaks in their own countries, they must avoid the temptation to shun the benefits international trade and cooperation can bring as a much-needed economic recovery begins.

Afghanistan needs a ceasefire now to battle COVID-19

By Marika Theros and Sahar Halaimzai

COVID-19 will not wait for negotiators to reach a humanitarian ceasefire. This is not the time to place political goals above public health or to exploit divisions. A coordinated plan of action, grounded in a public health perspective and which prioritizes pausing the violence, is necessary in order to save lives. Any actor using the pandemic to score political points or to strengthen their hand at the negotiation table cannot be truly committed to peace in Afghanistan.

It Takes a Village: Helping the Most Vulnerable in Crisis

India’s coronavirus lockdown has sparked an economic pandemic. A collective of community groups and non-profits in Chennai stepped in to help.

Digitizing the dollar in the age of COVID-19

By Michael Greenwald

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to cast a shadow over the future of the global economy, the dollar, while currently surging, finds itself at another larger inflection point; it needs to again prove its worth as the essential global currency.