Malala Yusufzai's speech in Washington, 2015

The year is 2015. President Obama welcomes a teenage warrior to a rostrum, somewhere in the White House.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you everybody for this great honor.

I stand before you as someone who is very clear and yet very disoriented. I could never have imagined this fame. I could also never have imagined that I will get this fame and these honors simply for wanting something that is so basic. All I wanted was knowledge. All I demanded was my right to an education.

I am a simple Pakistani girl. We live simple lives in Swat. Uncomplicated. Happy. With small pleasures of eating apples and apricots from the orchards, or playing hide and seek in the forest.

I love my country, Pakistan, deeply. It is the only place I have ever known. I love my life there, and I could never wish living anywhere else.

But I also love to learn. I like going to school. I like my friends there, my teachers and my books.

In 2009, when the Taliban took control of Swat, they shut down the schools and forbade girls from getting an education. I did not understand why education for girls needed to be banned.

I was lucky to have my father and my mother. And my love for knowledge. I could not stay away from it. When you love something very much, you express your love without thinking. You cannot stop it, or stay away from it.

I did not search for popularity. I searched for a way to go back to school.

When I was shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012, I did not know what my crime was. I knew my life was in danger, like it was for so many of my family members and so many others in Swat. Life is in God's hands. I will die the day I am meant to die. But until I live, I am meant to learn. And so I will.

I have met children here in this country, in the United States. They are lucky. But I do not wish to live here. This is not my country. My country is Pakistan. In Swat, I have to insist on my right to an education. And it is a fulfilling struggle. When I look at that blackboard, open my book, write a sentence and come back thinking about stars and rainbows, about mountains and cities, all that is more satisfying because I have earned that knowledge. I did not get it as a free gift. And tomorrow, I want to work harder to keep learning.

I do not want to be a political symbol. I do not even understand politics. But if I can be an inspiration to my people and to others on the wonders of learning, of education and of believing in what is right, then I will continue to inspire. I will not rest. It is my goal in my life to be a doctor. One day, I will be one.

I ask for your support in making education possible for everyone, especially girls. It is girls who will bear the future generations. It is they who need to know the value and the glory of a good education.

We will achieve what is a God-given right that no one can deny us.

Thank you.

Bosnia Herzegovina

The airport was small, yet new and glistening tidy. The mid-morning sunlight shone through the boxy terminal building where we walked in right upon getting off from our short Austrian Airlines hop from Vienna. This was Sarajevo International Airport, Bosnia-Herzegovina. And my first time in a city that just about ten or twelve years ago was a riveting war zone, where massacres were taking place on a regular basis. 

NATO's withdrawal will not mean a peaceful Afghanistan

The New York Times reported on 30 March that as the date for foreign forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan draws nearer, the anxiety among Afghans has increased. During 2011, developed countries dealt with more than 30,400 asylum applications from Afghans, the highest number in ten years, and more than five times the number of applications in 2005.

Now imagine summer 2014. The Americans, along with the rest of NATO-led coalition forces, are no longer responsible for security in that godforsaken country. The Afghan security forces don't show any trend that would make them better than a joke in keeping the peace at that time. Pakistan will continue with its game, though this time perfectly on-stage rather than from behind the scene. Other regional players will step in... Will 2014 look similar to 1999? Quite possibly, except that this time the stakes will be much higher and the chess pieces more numerous and more fluid.

The Americans don't understand Afghanistan. The value they bring to the table has declined dramatically over the years, and with their purses empty, they will not bother to look at Afghanistan beyond the critical counter-terrorism prism. It makes sense for the US to withdraw. But those who think that America's presence in Afghanistan is a cause for the region's afflictions should think again. America's contribution is diminishing, but its absence will be a nightmare.

Pakistan, and most Pakistanis, feels that with the Americans gone, security will increase and the region's turmoil put to rest. Not likely. The Taliban will shower pride on the new feather in their hat that they survived the American onslaught for almost 13 years - that after the defeating the Soviets. A worthy note in anyone's CV, and certainly no reason to go back to the caves - sorry, I meant villages. The Taliban will want power... and more and more of it. They won't get it, and not just because of the Great Gamers Camp 2 (i.e. India, Iran and Russia). Afghanistan version 2.014 is a much more serious international agenda item, unlike Afghanistan version 1.999. A world power may have withdrawn its military, but not its attention, especially because Afghanistan's status as a terrorism breeding grounds has yet to subside.

What can be done? Pakistan needs to feel more of a stake in supporting an Afghanistan that is not entirely run by Pathans. The others need to accept that Pashtuns, being the largest ethnic group in the country, have to have a commensurate share in power. A solution? A weak, ethnically balanced and constitutionally-rotational central government, and more power to Afghan provincial systems, which will actually improve penetration and (fingers crossed) governance on the ground. Pakistan will be happy. The Americans happier since stronger localized setups will likely have a better chance in keeping out terrorists with international reach.