The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) hosted a two-day Margalla Security Dialogue from November 11-12 at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad. Cantered on the theme "The Future of Global Order: Cooperation or Confrontation," the event brought together scholars, diplomats and policymakers from Pakistan and abroad. Over two days, discussions revolved around the shifting global order, US, China competition and Afghanistan's persistent inability to function as a bridge between Central Asia and South Asia.

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........

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