This article explores the prospects of the New Silk Road and its implications for Pakistan in its historical context. The Silk Road is a unique example from history of intercontinental cooperation and collaboration of not only trade and commerce but also in the realm of ideas and cultures. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the civilisations of China, India, Persia, Europe and Arabia. The historical perspective of the Silk Road underlines the geo-economic value of Pakistan. In the Middle Ages, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo named the caravan routes silk roads. But it was a German researcher Ferdinand Richthofen who coined the term the Great Silk Road in his work, China, in1877. The Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade along it, which began during the Han Dynasty (206 BC — 220 AD). The Silk Road spanned a distance of about 11,000 km from China to Central Asia, northern India, the Parthian and Roman Empires during the period from 200 BC to 14th century AD. Various technologies, religions and philosophies travelled along the silk routes. Centuries ago, India was part of the Silk Road network. Pakistan was a gateway to South Asia on the old Silk Road and it was possible to travel from the Bay of Bengal (Calcutta) up the Grand Trunk Road and through the Khyber Pass into Central Asia. The Story Tellers’ Bazaar in Peshawar still resonates the comic and tragic narratives of the caravans that crisscrossed the Central Asian region. The traders and adventurers in their travel to Central Asia and vice versa experienced the agony of loss and ecstasy of gain. Silk was the main commodity in the list but paper, ivory, sandalwood, spices, horses, carpets, fruit, skins, vases, military equipment, medicines, perfumery, gold, silver, tea, rice, mirrors were also traded on the Silk Road. Through this network of roads, goods, people and cultural exchanges took place, which facilitated and helped the peoples of the region to understand their history, culture and thought processes. The Silk Road comprised several routes. The northern route started at Changan (Xian), the capital of ancient China. The southern route or the Karakoram route was mainly a single route running from China, through the Karakoram, where it persists to modern times as the international paved road connecting Pakistan and China: the Karakoram Highway (KKH). The southwest route is believed to be the Ganges/Brahmaputra Delta. Some major cities on the Silk Road were Yazd (Iran), Kashgar (China), Herat, Kabul (Afghanistan), Peshawar, Taxila, Multan, and Debal (Pakistan). The first major step in opening the Silk Road between the east and the west came with the expansion of Alexander the Great’s empire into Central Asia. The unification of Central Asia and northern India within the Kushan Empire in the first to third centuries reinforced the role of the powerful merchants from Bactria and Taxila. They fostered multi-cultural interaction. In Central Asia, Muslims expanded from the seventh century onward and strengthened themselves after winning the Battle of Talas in 751. Further expansion of the Muslim Turks in Central Asia from the 10th century finished disrupting trade in that part of the world. Pakistan is giving great importance to its trade relations with the regional countries. It is reconnecting itself through roads, rail tracks, pipelines and other communication channels with China, Afghanistan and Central Asia. Near Chitral on the other side of the Wakhan Corridor is Tajikistan. Pakistan is developing physical infrastructure to connect with Tajikistan. Expansion of the Lowari Top tunnel costing Rs 18.13 billion is an important component of this strategy. India is taking a keen interest in the hydrocarbons of Central Asia as China is constructing pipelines. Road, pipeline and transmission line initiatives form part of India’s strategy of ‘reach around’ and across Pakistan and into the resource-rich Central Asia. Confidence Building Measures between Pakistan and India will help to stabilise Afghanistan and reintegrate South and Central Asia. Pakistan`s location on the New Silk Road is important. The recent events in Afghanistan highlight this fact. When Pakistan closed the NATO supply routes, NATO paid six times as much to send war supplies to troops in Afghanistan. The actual cost-per-container through Russia (NDN) is approximately $ 17,500, compared to approximately $ 7,200 for cargo through Pakistan (SDN). The construction of Gwadar port and related connecting routes with Afghanistan reduce the distance for Pakistan-Central Asia traffic by approximately 500 km. Pakistan and China are upgrading the KKH. The two countries have agreed to open four new road links through the Khunjerab Pass, bringing the total number of China-Pakistan road links to eight. TAPI is a Silk Road project connecting Central Asia to the West via Gwadar, which will make Pakistan the gateway to Central Asia. Another project is CASA 1000, which is the transmission line from Tajikistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan. Pakistan offers the critical overland routes and connectivity for mutually beneficial trade and energy transactions intra-regionally and inter-regionally. The new Silk Roads will strengthen Central Asian sovereignty. It reintegrates the regional states through trade and commerce. Peace in Afghanistan and the resolution of major issues between Pakistan and India will help regional assimilation. The historical Silk Road trading routes have inspired many people and it has been perceived as a modern metaphor for sharing and learning across cultures, art forms and disciplines, a simile for exploring regional commonalities and an epithet to dig out interests’ convergence among regional powers. Pakistan’s participation in the new Silk Road projects will symbolise the return of the Indus Valley to the central place in region-wide economic, diplomatic, social and cultural interplay. The writer is a professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar. He can be reached at zahid_anwar@upesh.edu.pk , zauop@yahoo.com