“By far, the largest component of our requested budget increase is dedicated to the critical states of Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he told the committee in March 2010. (...) In the five years since those remarks, Shah has appeared to focus less and less on Afghanistan and more on other development programs, such as combating global poverty and the Ebola outbreak, while aid to Afghanistan accounts for billions more U.S. taxpayer dollars than any other country where the agency operates.

A look at the events in 2014 likely to have the most lasting impact on the region and beyond.

The US needs a more strategic approach in providing assistance to the two troubled countries.

Half the aid workers in Afghanistan received death treats or intimidation during the past year as foreign troops phased out their operations and funding began to dwindle, a survey released ahead of the London conference on Afghanistan said.

India offers around 1,000 scholarships every year to the Afghan students, which is sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).  At present, the Afghan students are pursuing courses in international studies, economics, bachelors' degrees, B. Tech and many more programmes in various universities across India.

For a brief moment after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election victory, there was optimism in both India and Pakistan. (...)Unfortunately, it has all been downhill since.