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Geopolitical Rise of Pakistan

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.
Happymon Jacob :
Pakistan, like India, is also following a policy of multi-alignment even though it has a very different philosophy guiding this.
India is the focus behind Pakistan’s multi-alignment strategy whereas Pakistan plays a limited role in India’s policies of multi-alignment.
American hyphenation of India and Pakistan is an old story; Trump’s policies have a zero-sum effect in South Asia where India’s loss appears to be Pakistan’s gain.

Pakistan’s current regional strategy appears to be one of hedging, freeriding, and seeking to act as an intermediary among various regional factions.
By engaging with the US, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey — each a major power in their respective regions — Pakistan is hedging its bets, waiting for greater geopolitical clarity while keeping its cards close to its chest.
Happymon Jacob : Even as Pakistan refuses to fully bandwagon with the US, it is also freeriding on Trump’s current antipathy towards New Delhi and China’s desire to contain India’s rise in the region.
While Pakistan may not be closely aligned with Russia or Iran as a strategic ally of China in the region, it gets access to the China-led regional bloc that includes Russia and Iran even as it is growing closer to the US.

If the US reverts to its rivalry with China, Pakistan could be forced to choose sides.
How long Beijing will tolerate Islamabad’s flirtation with Washington remains uncertain, especially given that China’s global ambitions are likely to clash with American interests over time.
For India, this means that it could once again be forced to beef up security on its western and northern flanks.

Pakistan may currently be in a geopolitical sweet spot, but this might not last long.
As the region’s geopolitics become more vitiated and competition intensifies, these efforts risk backfiring and destabilising the very leverage Pakistan seeks to gain.