Challenges of the New Silk Route Initiative (NSRI) for Afghanistan Tawseef A Bhat and Mushtaq A Kaw SADF WORKING PAPER 17 January 2018 Issue n° 8 ISSN 2506-8202 Avenue des Arts 19 1210 Brussels info@sadf.eu www.sadf.eu Abstract This paper argues that, to end the fourteen-year conflict in Afghanistan, the United States came out with a novel idea under the banner of a “New Silk Route Initiative” for conflict resolution and the empowerment of Afghanistan. The purpose of this program was to better integrate Afghanistan with South and Central Asia after 2014 by reinforcing the Ancient Silk Route, first known as the ‘Asia roundabout’ or the ‘bridge between South and Central Asia’. However, this paper asserts that the initiative for Silk Road revival is hard to realize, due to inextricable political, security, and technical challenges. The paper is an attempt to highlight all of these challenges which have contributed to the project’s slow progress. The authors further suggest that these challenges are not unique to the New Silk Route Initiative, but rather are common across all initiatives and development projects which aim to integrate Afghanistan with the rest of the world. Background The United States (US) and its Western allies earnestly desire to empower war-ridden Afghanistan to achieve economic sustainability and lasting peace. International actors believe that this can be achieved through integration with Central and South Asia, for wider access to regional trade and transportation. They also realize that Afghanistan has the tremendous potential to re-emerge as the “land bridge” between Kazakhstan, the Indian Ocean and the Greater Asia region (Santhanam, 2010; Thaler, 2008). Tawseef A Bhat is a Ph.D. Scholar at the Centre of Central Asian Studies of the University of Kashmir in Hazratbal Srinagar, J&K, India. Mushtaq A Kaw is Professor and Head of the Department of History at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANNU) in Hyderabad, India.