A drive into Washington always carries surprises. Some days it is the flash of motorcades slicing through traffic, while on others, it is a practised-to-perfection rhythm of suited figures hurrying past security barriers, badges swinging, as decisions that shape distant regions are quietly set in motion. Tuesday morning, I hurried across a rain-soaked pathway; June showers turning the streets silver, blurring the edges of buildings and making even DC’s hard power look momentarily subdued.

Inside the Atlantic Council, however, the mood was anything but that. The room where I was headed for a roundtable discussion on the issues plaguing South Asia in 2026 and in years to come was one where the credentials were almost mesmerising. There were people who had advised governments, built companies, worked in multilateral institutions, led civic initiatives, studied public systems and carried the anxieties of their countries into global spaces. They came from different walks of life, but they were bound by one uncomfortable question: if South Asia’s old leadership has failed to change the region’s equation, can the next generation do any better?

Introducing his brainchild NextGen Leaders on these very pages Atlantic Council Senior Adviser Imran Shauket recently argued that South Asia’s next generation of leaders may finally have the ability to change that equation. It is an attractive proposition, not because youth is automatically wiser, but because South Asia’s problems have outgrown the habits of its old politics. The region cannot remain imprisoned by a political imagination built around suspicion, grievance and hostilities when its people are being hit by climate disasters, poor public services, weak health systems, broken education pipelines, joblessness and digital disruption.

Spending my afternoon with this “creme a le creme” revealed a generational shift in how South Asia is being understood. They locked horns over classifications, buzzwords, overarching concepts, and false monoliths, coming up with new ways to engage governments, the private sector, distinguished professionals and the people at large.

Another important insight from the discussion was that the next generation does not want one more hundred-point wish list. It wants focus. South Asia should pick three problems, not thirty.

Another important insight from the discussion was that the next generation does not want one more hundred-point wish list. It wants focus. South Asia should pick three problems, not thirty.

That the younger voices in the room did not deny........

© Daily Times