Wednesday, September 3, 2014

U.S. "New Silk Road Strategy" Hits Deadend

In 2011 the United States Department of State (under Secretary of State Clinton) rolled out the "New Silk Road Strategy" or NSRS. The intent was to re-establish Afghanistan as the trade cross-roads for economic activity - tying the products of Central Asia (water, gas, oil, electricity, and consumer goods) to the populations of South Asia (India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan) through Afghanistan. Much talk was made about how this would help the economy of Afghanistan (and eliminate some of the underlying root causes of the insurgency) but little investment was made on the part of the United States. It seems, however, that both Russia and China see the importance of a "New Silk Road"; but not necessarily in the context of benefiting Afghanistan. Read more in "The United States' Silk Road to Nowhere", Foreign Policy, September 29, 2014.

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