The first session of the Islamabad Symposium 2025 was held on October 15, around the time Pakistan and Afghanistan were engaged in border clashes. The theme of the symposium was "Balancing Relationships Between the Global North and Global South: Challenges and Opportunities". The inaugural session was followed by the launch of a book, Pakistan's Search for Peace with Afghanistan: Statecraft, Policy, and Strategy, written by Dr Muhammad Zahid Latif, the Rector NUST.

Both the book and the symposium's discussions, published online, provided valuable insights for academicians and policymakers about the leadership role Pakistan can play as a major partner of the Global South, and the kind of relationship it should build with Afghanistan.

The speakers also exposed the fallacies of the Western "rules-based order" and highlighted the growing challenges for the West after its double standards were revealed during the Gaza genocide.

The majority of speakers emphasised that the Global North remains........

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