Pakistan has worked feverishly to contain a regional crisis that threatens not only the Middle East but also Pakistan’s economic interests, energy security and domestic cohesion. Its efforts to facilitate a US-Iran understanding, and its participation in the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, demonstrate diplomatic energy and regional ambition. Both efforts have merit. But Pakistan can and must do better. The world needs it.

The US-Iran memorandum showed both the value and the limits of crisis diplomacy. It created space for a pause and set out a framework for further talks. Yet its central questions, sanctions, Iran’s nuclear programme, the regional military balance and guarantees of implementation, remained unresolved. A memorandum can postpone conflict; it cannot by itself settle the political differences that caused it.

A durable agreement requires more than skilful mediation. It requires a credible destination that both sides can see, however difficult the path towards it may be. With the destination unknown and difficult to visualize, the MOU was bound to fail. The Mecca agreement raises a similar question. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have described it as defensive. But regional security arrangements must be judged not only by what they say, but also by how they are perceived.

Pakistan’s opportunity to shape a durable Gulf security order lies in bridging Saudi-Iranian........

© The Friday Times