Pakistan had been sidelined by the West and the US after the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan in late 2021. It has re-emerged on the global geopolitical stage now, and is in a strategic sweet spot. Pakistan army chief Asim Munir recently made his third visit to Washington, along with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and met US President Donald Trump at the White House. Although the exact US-Pakistan plans for South Asia are unclear, Trump’s outreach to Pakistan has firmly repositioned Islamabad at the core of regional geopolitics. That Pakistan-US relations are deepening in the wake of an India-Pakistan military conflict — which also highlighted Pakistan’s dependence on China for defence — underscores the complex play behind Pakistan’s current geopolitical positioning.

The American rehabilitation of Pakistan appears to have triggered a series of regional developments. Islamabad is strengthening its relationship with China, re-engaging the US, cultivating Saudi Arabia, warming up to Russia, bringing Turkey into play, and managing Afghanistan and Iran.

Pakistan, like India, is also following a policy of multi-alignment even though it has a very different philosophy guiding this. India manages its relationships with major partners based on their own merits, while Pakistan’s multi-alignment primarily aims to use its partnerships to counter India. In other words, India is the focus behind Pakistan’s multi-alignment strategy whereas Pakistan plays a limited role in India’s policies of multi-alignment. True to its ability to exploit geopolitical uncertainty and chaos, Pakistan has positioned itself comfortably between two emerging poles........

© hindustantimes