With the pullback of American troops from Afghanistan, a Princeton University-based peace and security expert will outline Sunday what that action may mean for Pakistan, the U.S. — and those of us here on Cape Ann.
Zia Mian will be this Sunday's featured February speaker for the Cape Ann Forum, addressing the topic, "After Afghanistan: The United States, Pakistan & The Imperiled Future of South Asia."
Her presentation is planned for Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian-Universalist Church at the corner of Church and Middle Streets, Gloucester. Like all programs in the now 11-year-old Cape Ann Forum series, the event is free and open to the public.
Among the questions Mian will address, according to the Cape Ann Forum's Martha Kurz, are:
What will the end of the American presence in Afghanistan mean for Pakistan?
Can it overcome the many crises it faces, from an Islamist insurgency to a runaway nuclear rivalry with India?
How will its future be shaped by the emerging great-power contest between the United States and China?
The director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at Princeton University's Program on Science and Global Security, Mian teaches at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His research interests include security policy in South Asia with a focus on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy issues.
Mian, a physicist, is also the editor and co-editor of several books, most recently "Bridging Partition: Peoples Initiatives for Peace Between India and Pakistan" (2010). Previous books include "Between Past and Future: Selected Essays on South Asia" by Eqbal Ahmad (2004) and "Out of The Nuclear Shadow" (2001).
He has also worked on the documentary films "Crossing the Lines: Kashmir, Pakistan, India" and "Pakistan and India under the Nuclear Shadow," and he serves on the board of the Eqbal Ahmad Foundation.
Mian was scheduled to speak in December but had to postpone his talk to travel to Pakistan.
"His presentation will draw on his impressions from that trip, as well as his extensive scholarship," Kurz said in a prepared statement.
She added that the venue for the program was changed from City Hall to the church due to problems with the sound system.
The Cape Ann Forum was organized shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to increase public understanding of international issues. The all-volunteer organization has sponsored 66 forums since then.
Future forums will feature Woman's World founder Meredith Tax on "Challenging Global Fundamentalism: Building a Secular, Feminist Alternative" — slated for March 18 — and Harvard international relations expert Steven Walt on "The Twilight of the American Era" (May 13).
For more information, go to the Forum's Web site at www.capeannforum.org.
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