Beaconhouse National University (BNU)

The key speakers at this Roundtable were Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington D.C. who was visiting Lahore, Dr. Tahir Kamran, Professor of History and the Head of Department of Liberal Arts at BNU; and Ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan, Head of the Initiative on Pakistan’s Place in the World at the BNU Centre for Policy Research (BCPR). This Roundtable featured an engaging and comprehensive discussion on Pakistan’s historic and current engagement with the US, along with an exchange of views on how the Pakistan-US relationship should proceed while prioritizing their interactions in the areas of education, technology and skill development. Kugelman in his keynote address highlighted the role of the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) as a potential avenue for productive cooperation among Pakistan and the US. Noting that there had been significant cooperation between Pakistan and the US in the areas of education and capacity building in many fields, there was a need for enhancing this cooperation conforming to the current trends and ground realities on the international and regional situations. He advised that Pakistan should make a pitch on the cooperation and the relationship it needed form the US. For this purpose, skill development and getting on the same track as the competitor countries that operate in the West were of key importance. Dr. Tahir Kamran in his address emphasized the need of understanding the perspective of Pakistani youth on the relations with the United States which can be dissociated from Pakistan’s politics as well as major international and regional developments. He shared his experience based on regular interaction with the undergraduate students who were also not shy of expressing their views and particularly their differences with the pattern or bilateral relations. A significant number of students in Pakistan regarded the relations between the two countries as representing the interests of the elite of the two countries and not the peoples of the two countries. These perceptions have also to be addressed for deepening substantive cooperation in various fields including education, technology and skill development. Dr. Kamran added that the US needs to adopt a foreign policy where Pakistan’s sense of security is not imperiled. Expressing his views regarding Pakistan’s cooperation with the US in these areas, Ambassador Khan noted that at a political level in the United States the relations with Pakistan were seen from the prism of Pakistan-China relationship and particularly Pakistan being the driver of BRI’s flagship project CPEC. He emphasized the need for moving from the zero-sum situation to a more inclusive focus economic partnerships with diverse actors. Ambassador Mansoor Ahmad Khan underlined the immense contribution of educational, scientific, technological and entrepreneurial dimensions of relations with the United States since the independence of Pakistan. He added that despite useful programmes of cooperation such as Fulbright programme and US assistance in setting up many high-quality educational institutions, the relations have remained cyclical or marked by lack of consistency. The Round Table witnessed a candid and frank discussion and observations on the interaction between Pakistan and the US in the field of education, technology and skill development. According to one view, Pakistan had not taken advantage of the first IT revolution in the United States in 1990s and following decades. Another view was that polarization caused by developments such as Jihad in Afghanistan, regional terrorism and divergence on political issues overshadowed the importance of cooperation in educational and research fields. One of the participants mentioned that since madrassah system in Pakistan received US funding during Afghan Jihad years and it continues to provide education to a large number of Pakistani students, the US assistance for madrassah reforms can be an innovative way to address the challenges of extremism and terrorism as well fro deepening educational and academic linkages. The participants suggested expanding the inclusiveness of the Fulbright program to be able to benefit non-socioeconomic elites. It was also suggested that Pakistani and American universities should collaborate directly and send delegations to each other’s campuses to improve and update dated scholarships/curricula. The roundtable also reflected a consensus on the need for Pakistan to take full benefit from the US leadership in sophisticated technologies particularly IT, AI and robotics. A common view coming out from the discussions was that Pakistani state has to focus on investing in the people especially in the business sector for young innovative minds.