The Pulse | Security | South Asia

Pakistan’s Rising Role in West Asia’s Shifting Geopolitical Landscape

Irrespective of the outcomes of the U.S.-Iran talks, Pakistan’s expanded role in West Asia as a security stabilizer and an assertive diplomatic actor is here to stay.

Screenshot of a video of Iran’s Foreign Minister Sayed Abbas Araghchi embracing Pakistani Field Marshal Asim Munir on his arrival in Tehran, Iran, on April 15, 2026.

In 2021, following the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, Pakistan was cast aside in key international capitals as a basket case, a country grappling with political and economic instability and a rising wave of terrorism. The country was surviving on loans from the International Monetary Fund and friendly countries.

However, in a remarkable turnaround, the country has revived its strategic and diplomatic relevance due to the rapidly evolving geopolitical dynamics in West Asia. This is primarily due to a fundamental change in West Asia’s perception of Pakistan following its May 2025 military conflict with India. Until then, Pakistan’s West Asian partners had largely forgotten its role as a regional stabilizer.

Not only did the Pakistani narrative hold its own against unsubstantiated Indian allegations of its role in the April 22 terrorist attack at Pahalgam, but its impressive battlefield performance also proved to be a game changer.

After the May 2025 conflict with India, Pakistan signed a security pact with Saudi Arabia, binding the two longstanding allies in a NATO-like framework. Then, in January 2026, Pakistan officially joined the Trump administration’s Gaza Peace Board underpinned by the close personal ties that Pakistani military chief Field Marshal Asim Munir had swiftly built with U.S. President Donald Trump. It is important to mention that the Pakistani-Saudi defense pact and participation in the Gaza Peace Board stemmed from the Trump administration’s reassessment that it was difficult to simultaneously forge constructive partnerships with India and Pakistan within the same regional security framework due to the intractable nature of their rivalry.

Under Washington’s new global strategy of “burden shifting” and “burden sharing,” India has been positioned within the Indo-Pacific, while Pakistan is being encouraged to play a larger role in West Asia, Central Asia and Afghanistan.

Keeping this in view, Pakistan’s security pact with Saudi Arabia should be seen as an arrangement complementing the U.S.-led regional security architecture in West Asia rather than replacing it. The Saudis roped Pakistan into a strategic pact following signals from the Trump administration that Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were West Asia’s main powers and they had to play a more assertive role to manage the regional security.

The most pivotal shift came when the U.S. and Israel invaded Iran and the latter closed the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in a deadlock with far-reaching consequences for global energy markets. Three factors compelled Pakistan to step in as a mediator, help Tehran and Washington reach a ceasefire, and host the first-ever face-to-face talks between Iran and the U.S. top leadership since 1979. Although the Islamabad talks failed to achieve a breakthrough, Pakistan has continued its backdoor diplomacy to help both sides reach an agreement to end the war. These developments involving Pakistan’s proactive diplomacy have further entrenched its role in West Asia, not just as a security partner but a diplomatic actor as well.

The foremost factor that prompted Pakistan to offer itself as a mediator was its security pacts with Riyadh and friendly ties with Tehran. If the Iran war broadened, dragging other Gulf states into it, Pakistan would have been asked by the Saudis to kinetically enter the war on its side under their 2025 mutual defense pact.

For Pakistan’s overstretched........

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