Abstract: Based on a careful reading of the recent political and economic history of the region, and of Great Power rivalry beyond it, the authors explain why efforts to build a comprehensive Afghanistan-centric regional security order have failed, and suggest what might be done to reset inter-state relations.

Contents: South Asia and Afghanistan : projecting the Indo-Pak conflict. The robust India-Pakistan conflict -- Domestic politics and regional entanglement -- Global powers in South Asia -- Afghanistan : arena for proxy war? -- Enduring South Asian conflict in Afghanistan? -- Central Asia and Afghanistan. Central Asian regional security dynamics -- Domestic sources of rivalry -- Global powers in Central Asia -- Afghanistan -- insulation or contagion for the Central Asians? -- Will Central Asian insulation hold? -- The Persian Gulf and Afghanistan : Iran-Saudi competition. The Iran-Saudi rivalry -- Domestic determinants -- Global powers in the Persian Gulf -- Afghanistan-Rivalry projected -- Will the Persian Gulf rivalry perils in Afghanistan? -- Afghanistan and its neighborhood : continuity and change. Re-examining Afghanistan as connector -- Core or periphery? Competing perspectives on Afghanistan's neighborly dilemmas -- The future of Afghanistan's neighborly relations.

English