Resurgent Militancy and Strategic Rivalries: Rethinking Security Across Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Beyond

The talks will explore how the Taliban's return, renewed conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, together with India–Pakistan rivalry and great‑power competition, have created a deeply interconnected security environment in South Asia and beyond. It outlines how re-energised extremist militant networks, border tensions, and competing strategic doctrines reinforce one another, and why addressing these challenges requires regional and international cooperation and inclusive and legitimate governance in Afghanistan, where half of the population is denied fundamental rights.

About the Speaker:

Masoom Stanekzai is an Honorary Fellow at the Asia Institute and a Research Affiliate with the University of Melbourne’s Initiative for Peacebuilding and a practitioner in peace and security studies. He previously held senior leadership roles in government and non-government organisations, including Chief Peace Negotiator, Minister of Defence and Communications, Chief of the National Directorate of Security, CEO of the Peace and Reintegration Program, and Vice Chair of the Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) Commission. He also served as Managing Director of an NGO.