South Asia: The road ahead in 2021

Issue Brief Apr 1, 2025

Rescuing Pakistan’s economy

By Aasim M. Husain

For decades, Pakistan has struggled with a declining standard of living, skyrocketing public debt, and economic policies that have failed to address the root causes of its stagnation.
Economy & Business Middle East
South Asia: The road ahead in 2021

New Atlanticist Mar 25, 2025

Starlink’s India launch is a crash course on New Delhi’s approach to tech sovereignty

By Trisha Ray

A recently announced partnership to deploy the Elon Musk-led company’s satellite internet in India offers a window into New Delhi’s “hybrid” approach.
Economy & Business India
South Asia: The road ahead in 2021

New Atlanticist Feb 19, 2025

Why India and Armenia are now taking their relationship to new heights

By Tatevik Khachatryan and Srujan Palkar

The growing military and diplomatic cooperation between New Delhi and Yerevan benefits both beyond immediate defense concerns.
Economy & Business India

Programs

The South Asia Center is the hub for the Atlantic Council’s analysis of the political, social, geographical, and cultural diversity of the region. ​At the intersection of South Asia and its geopolitics, SAC cultivates dialogue to shape policy and forge ties between the region and the global community.

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Content

Feature

Jan 7, 2021

South Asia: The road ahead in 2021

By South Asia Center

The shadow of 2020 is likely to loom large over the coming year for South Asia, which faces unprecedented economic challenges, deterioration of democratic norms and institutions, and the existential threat of climate change.

Afghanistan Bangladesh

SouthAsiaSource

Jan 5, 2021

Taliban 2.0. – Have the Taliban really changed and learnt their lesson?

By Tamim Asey

With negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban under way, many in the West and Afghanistan are banking on the fact that the Taliban movement has changed and that, having failed to defeat them militarily, it is time to embrace them. Although the latter is indeed true - that we have failed to defeat the Taliban militarily - the former deserves more scrutiny.

Afghanistan Human Rights

In the News

Dec 23, 2020

Nooruddin in The Hindu: COVID-19 and limits of political accountability

By Atlantic Council

Coronavirus Political Reform

In the News

Dec 21, 2020

Nooruddin quoted in The Christian Science Monitor: Why India’s protesting farmers aren’t going home

By Atlantic Council

Civil Society India

In the News

Dec 21, 2020

Mulder featured in DOD Reads on “Battlegrounds”

By Atlantic Council

On December 21, Forward Defense senior military fellow Lt Col Christopher Mulder’s book review on H.R. McMaster’s “Battlegrounds” was featured in DOD Reads.

China Cybersecurity

Past events

Dec 16, 2020

Event Recap: “The Nine Lives of Pakistan” with Declan Walsh and Shuja Nawaz

By Atlantic Council

On December 15, 2020, the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center in partnership with the American Pakistan Foundation hosted a book talk with author and journalist Declan Walsh on his new book, The Nine Lives of Pakistan: Dispatches from a Divided Nation. The event was moderated by South Asia Center distinguished fellow Shuja Nawaz.

National Security Pakistan

New Atlanticist

Dec 16, 2020

To succeed, intra-Afghan talks must defer to the non-ideal

By Muska Dastageer

The negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban should just as much center on the question of whether we should ground political morality in a vision of a distinct Islamic polity (that of the Taliban or the Afghan government), or a non-ideal mode of Islamic governance reflecting the second-order and third-order preferences of the parties.

Afghanistan Conflict

Fast Thinking

Dec 12, 2020

FAST THINKING: Get up to speed on India’s new mass protests

By Atlantic Council

Mass protests led by Indian farmers are presenting perhaps the greatest challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to date. The protests have drawn in supporters from across Indian society, as farmers vow to dig in outside the capital for months. Why is the new movement so powerful—and how will Modi respond?

India Politics & Diplomacy

In the News

Dec 11, 2020

Samad joins Figaro to discuss US withdrawal from Afghanistan

By Atlantic Council

Afghanistan Conflict

New Atlanticist

Dec 9, 2020

NATO must adapt to Afghanistan’s generation shift or it will lose the peace

By Ben Acheson

While the jihadi generation may be the ones who shape and sign a peace agreement with the Taliban, the youth bulge will have to implement and sustain it. They are the Afghans needed to achieve a common international aim: that nineteen one-year wars are not followed by nineteen one-year peace processes.

Afghanistan Conflict
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Experts

Staff

Kate Springs

Program Assistant, Strategic Litigation Project

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Human Rights International Norms

Fellow

Jongsun Kim

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Defense Industry Defense Policy

Fellow

David H. Young

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Afghanistan Conflict

Fellow

Laura Updegrove

Nonresident Senior Fellow, GeoStrategy Initiative

GeoStrategy Initiative Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Politics & Diplomacy Security & Defense

Fellow

Stanislava Mladenova

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Afghanistan Conflict

Fellow

Sudeep Kanungo

Nonresident Senior Fellow

GeoTech Center

Africa Energy & Environment
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