A change in Pakistan’s foreign policy can be observed from a considerable time. One cannot deny the complex geostrategic location of Pakistan on the world map. This complexity has always made Pakistan focus on geostrategic policies. Primarily, Pakistan’s neighbouring states India, Afghanistan and Iran made Pakistan focus on geostrategic policies.
The hostile relations with India, and the conflicts of Iran with other powers and Afghanistan being a war-torn country made the borders of Pakistan insecure. Pakistan has borne the weight of others’ wars by this costly policy. The Cold War era can be an example, where Pakistan went into the US camp against the USSR. Pakistan trained the mujahideen on a US call, and they acted as the anti-Soviet rebels and affected Pakistan’s security and stability later on. Pakistan propped up the USA, which worsened Pakistan’s hostile relations with the USSR.
After the USSR broke up, the USA returned again in Afghanistan with the banner of War on Terror. Pakistan again suffered due to its geopolitical location and strategic alliance with the USA. Pakistan suffered the casualties, economic loss and overflow of Afghan refugees as a consequence of being a geopolitical ally of US and neighbour of Afghanistan. The geostrategic policies of Pakistan had deleterious effects and hindered the growth of Pakistan. The world’s major powers after the World Wars and proxy wars in the Cold War era realized that in this period of nuclear advancement, use of force would be destructive.
Nowadays, economic and cyber-security wars are a way of overcoming other states or as a means of balancing. The US-China trade war is a prime example of this, and now artificial intelligence and cyberwarfare are the new means in town. In all these happenings, a shift in Pakistan foreign policy was seen clearly in the Saudi-Iran proxy war; where Pakistan, rather than showing any tilt towards one or indulging itself in another war, presented itself to act as a mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
However, the positive thing is that Pakistan’s vision and approach this time is pragmatic to deal with the problems. For the very first time Pakistan is majorly concerned to build up mutually beneficial relations with regional and neighbouring powers. Though the journey is prolonged to make Pakistan a strong economic power on the world map, this time the policy and path is right. The escalating political tensions and resurgence of TTP attacks could be hurdles in the way but Pakistan this time needs to continue the parallel policy of security and economic independence for the progress and prosperity.
The other example of this could be the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pakistan acted as a key player in bringing the Taliban and the US government to the negotiation table. These moves clearly indicated that Pakistan had shifted its policy to refraining from indulging in US wars and is now willing to build relations with other states. Strongly building ties with Russia is an example of this. The realization of the need to maximize the gains and follow -up of world policies to compete with them made Pakistan de-focus from geopolitics.
For the first time ever Pakistan documented its National Security Policy. The objectives and determinants which used to be only security-centric have now shifted in accordance with the ground realities. Now the national security policy includes economic stability and independence. The sovereignty and dignity of Pakistan is linked up with the economic well -being now.
As stated earlier, Pakistan has now said “ABSOLUTELY NOT” in involving itself in any other war of the USA. After withdrawal from Afghanistan, the USA reportedly asked Pakistan for bases to sustain itself as a watchdog over Afghanistan, but Pakistan refused to become a source of any interference. Now Pakistan’s prime focus is on strengthening itself through economic means. For this reason, Pakistan has built strategic ties and bilateral trade with Russia. The predominant factor which tilted the Pakistan interest is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. China initiated a project of six corridors to connect with South Asia, Europe, and central Asia through economic ties.
The economic corridor through Pakistan to Gwadar, which is the shortest land access to the Arabian Sea, holds the greatest importance for China. On other hand, this economic corridor is a game changer and a source of policy shift for Pakistan. This has brought out the different projects, investments in Pakistan. The project of the largest maritime route of this century is building up the financial ties of Pakistan with China. At this time Pakistan is facing an economic crisis due to political instability.
However, the positive thing is that Pakistan’s vision and approach this time is pragmatic to deal with the problems. For the very first time Pakistan is majorly concerned to build up mutually beneficial relations with regional and neighbouring powers. Though the journey is prolonged to make Pakistan a strong economic power on the world map, this time the policy and path is right. The escalating political tensions and resurgence of TTP attacks could be hurdles in the way but Pakistan this time needs to continue the parallel policy of security and economic independence for the progress and prosperity.
