Afghanistan victim of regional powers politics and ompetitions

Abstract

A modern-day great game is playing out in inner Asia once again. Like the great game of the
nineteenth century, it centers on Afghanistan, a land that falls outside every state, the sphere of influence, and has always been intensely hostile to foreigners, making it a perfect playing field. China,
India, Russia, Iran, and Pakistan are the major regional powers embroiled in competition in and
around Afghanistan.
The great game construct offers much to our understanding of Afghanistan and the factors that will
likely drive the competition there. This paper articulates the major regional power's primary national interests
in Afghanistan and how those interests can be expected to play out in the context of the interests
of major actors that are engaged in Afghanistan.