Pakistan and Afghanistan signed an agreement on Saturday on the electricity transit fee for the long awaited 1000-megawatt Central Asia-South Asia (CASA-1000) transmission line project. Under the agreement, 1,300 MW of electricity will be transmitted from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan through Afghanistan (which would consume 300 MW) to Pakistan. Afghanistan will charge Pakistan 1.25 cents per KW as a transit fee for the transmission line running through its territory. An inter-governmental council has been established to oversee the design and implementation of this complex and integrated project involving four countries. The project will be completed at a cost of $ 873 million and will be co-financed by the World Bank and other financial institutions. CASA-1000 will help Pakistan overcome its energy shortage, while giving the Central Asian countries an opportunity to earn revenue on their surplus electricity. CASA-1000 is a US-backed effort to promote regional economic cooperation between the Central and South Asian countries through the revival of a New Silk Road. With a population of 1.6 billion people, energy-starved South Asia can benefit from the large reservoirs of Central Asian energy resources including oil, gas and hydropower. This project if completed in time and smoothly could tackle many of Pakistan’s energy woes that have led to the stagnation of its development plans. Two other major energy projects for the region have not seen fruition so far, the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline and the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. Regional tensions and the inability of the countries concerned to look beyond their differences led to these projects being relegated to the back burner. The overwhelming issue has been the war on terrorism originating in Afghanistan and spilling over to its neighbouring countries. The threat of militancy in Afghanistan has not decreased even 13 years into the war. One can sign as many projects of economic and political integration as one likes, but the reality is that the precarious security conditions hovering over Afghanistan cannot be taken lightly. Connectivity among the South and Central Asian countries, though highly desirable, is not easy to achieve. The region confronts the common problem of terrorism that could jeopardize any economic effort unless the countries involved unite to tackle the problem collectively. With the US withdrawal from Afghanistan by the end of this year, the possibility of the revival of jihadist activities across Central Asian countries cannot be ignored. Afghanistan is already beginning to suffering from withdrawal symptoms and a vast tract of the country has fallen into the hands of the Taliban. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) has been establishing bases along the Afghan border with a plan to extend its presence across the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountain ranges overlooking Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries. The aim of IMU is to capture northeastern Afghanistan and convert it into its major operations base. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has described the western withdrawal as a “matter of deepest concern”. The issue at hand is how to stabilize Afghanistan. Though the larger share of responsibility of keeping Afghanistan peaceful lies with the Afghans, its neighbouring countries including Pakistan cannot be absolved from this responsibility either. The newly installed Afghan government has given assurances that the CASA-1000 project will continue despite all odds and that Pakistan and Afghanistan will keep this economic coordination intact. Pakistan too has to ensure that no act of violation from its territory becomes the cause of Afghan’s instability. Similarly, the role of the US to keep the pot from boiling over is instrumental as well. Afghanistan will need US support for many more years to build its democratic credentials and to defeat militancy. Policy mistakes committed by the US in Afghanistan and the use of indiscriminate military power without taking into account the cultural and tribal norms of Afghan society have worked against the US and the Afghan government, described by the Taliban as a US stooge. Peace in Afghanistan being crucial, is therefore not only Afghanistan’s business. The future of CASA-1000 lies in the hands of its stakeholders. It could be a win-win situation on paper, but in reality the scales could tip in favour of the dark forces of militancy unless steps are taken to keep the project safe. *