Asif Haroon Raja
Since its inception in 1947, Pakistan’s foreign policy has fundamentally rested upon the principles of peace, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence with all neighbouring states.
This vision was not born out of weakness, but from the farsighted wisdom of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who despite the unimaginable trauma inflicted upon the Muslims of the subcontinent during Partition, still extended a hand of friendship to India.
The creation of Pakistan was accompanied by one of the bloodiest migrations in modern history. The unjust Radcliffe Award arbitrarily deprived Pakistan of several Muslim majority areas, crippling the nascent state economically and strategically from the very outset.
Millions of Muslims migrating toward Pakistan were massacred in cold blood. Tens of thousands of women were abducted and violated, while caravans of refugees were wiped out in acts of barbarity unprecedented in the region’s history.
To compound the tragedy, India withheld Pakistan’s due share of military assets, financial reserves, and administrative resources, seeking to weaken the newborn state at birth.
Yet, despite these wounds, Pakistan chose reconciliation over revenge.
Unfortunately, India never reconciled itself to the existence of Pakistan. The Hindu extremist mindset viewed Pakistan not as a sovereign neighbour but as an obstacle to the dream of an undivided “Akhand Bharat.”
To the Indian strategic elite, Pakistan remained a thorn in the flesh of the Mahabharata-inspired hegemonic vision dominating the thinking of extremist circles in India.
Since 1947, India has continuously hatched conspiracies aimed either at dismembering Pakistan or reducing it into a submissive vassal state.
Whenever New Delhi extended gestures of friendship, hidden beneath the smiles were ulterior motives and strategic deception. Every peace initiative was eventually followed by acts of hostility, betrayal, or coercion.
India’s hostility has not remained confined to conventional warfare alone. It has systematically employed kinetic and non-kinetic means to destabilise Pakistan politically, economically, and socially.
Proxy wars, hybrid warfare, information operations, economic sabotage, diplomatic isolation campaigns, cyber offensives, and water terrorism have all been used as instruments of statecraft against Pakistan.
Indian intelligence agencies have sponsored separatist movements and terrorist groups to bleed Pakistan internally while simultaneously portraying Pakistan as the source of regional instability.
The latest manifestation of this hostile doctrine was Operation Sindhoor, which was conceived as a strategic move to unravel Pakistan internally and externally.
Having failed to achieve its objectives, reports now suggest that India is preparing the groundwork for a more intensified Sindhoor-2 campaign aimed at further destabilisation of Pakistan through military, intelligence, and covert means.
Kashmir – Bone of Contention
At the heart of the enduring antagonism between India and Pakistan lies the unresolved dispute of Jammu and Kashmir — the core issue that has poisoned relations between the two neighbours since 1947.
Kashmir was a Muslim majority state whose natural political and geographic orientation lay with Pakistan, yet through intrigue, coercion, and military intervention, India occupied the territory against the wishes of its people.
The dispute triggered the first Indo-Pak war in 1948 and has since remained the principal flashpoint between the two nuclear powers.
The United Nations recognised Kashmir as a disputed territory and passed resolutions guaranteeing the Kashmiri people their right of self-determination through a plebiscite, but India steadily reneged on its international commitments and instead tightened its military occupation.
Over the decades, brutal repression, demographic engineering, human rights violations, and the denial of political freedoms have intensified Kashmiri resentment and resistance.
India’s unilateral revocation of Articles 370 and 35A in August 2019 further aggravated tensions and sought to alter the disputed status of the territory permanently.
For Pakistan, Kashmir is not merely a territorial issue but an unfinished agenda of Partition tied to justice, identity, regional peace, and the aspirations of millions of Kashmiris.
Until this dispute is resolved in accordance with the wishes of the Kashmiri people and relevant UN resolutions, lasting peace and genuine normalisation between India and Pakistan will remain elusive.
Story of Afghanistan
If India’s conduct has been disappointing, the story of Afghanistan has been even more painful for Pakistan.
Despite being bound together by geography, faith, culture, and centuries of shared history, successive Afghan regimes have often preferred strategic alignment with India over cultivating brotherly ties with Pakistan.
Pakistan consistently went out of its way to build trust with Kabul, hosting millions of Afghan refugees for decades, extending economic support, facilitating trade, and advocating peace and stability in Afghanistan at enormous economic and social cost to itself.
Yet Pakistan’s gestures of goodwill were seldom reciprocated.
Instead, Afghan soil repeatedly became a launching pad for anti-Pakistan terrorist activities. In collusion with India and increasingly with Israeli intelligence networks, hostile elements operating from Afghanistan have waged proxy warfare against Pakistan.
Terrorist organisations such as the TTP and BLA have found sanctuaries, funding channels, training support, and logistical backing that continue to threaten Pakistan’s territorial integrity and internal stability.
Iran- Another Painful Chapter
Iran presents yet another complex and painful chapter in Pakistan’s neighbourhood diplomacy.
With the exception of the era of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, relations between Pakistan and Iran frequently remained strained, largely due to divergent approaches toward Afghanistan and broader regional geopolitics.
During the two-decade-long War on Terror, Indian intelligence agency RAW exploited Iranian territory for conducting cross-border terrorism in Balochistan.
The arrest of Indian serving naval officer and RAW operative Kulbhushan Jadhav exposed the extent of covert Indian operations being coordinated from Iran’s Chabahar region.
Iran’s strategic and defence partnership with India further deepened Pakistan’s concerns.
Tehran granted India technical and operational control of Chabahar Port, clearly aimed at undermining the strategic importance of Gwadar Port and counterbalancing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
India, however, was eventually compelled to reduce its role in Chabahar under mounting American pressure in 2025.
There appeared to be a major shift in Pakistan-Iran relations during and after the US-Iran conflicts of last year and the current confrontation.
India openly sided with Israel, while reports indicated close coordination between RAW and Mossad that caused immense damage to Iranian interests.
One particularly shocking episode involved the seizure of an Iranian naval vessel by the US Navy following a joint Indo-Iranian naval exercise, resulting in the killing of Iranian sailors while India remained conspicuously silent.
In contrast, Pakistan stood firmly by Iran at a time when much of the Muslim world remained hesitant or divided.
Pakistan emerged as perhaps the only Muslim country that openly and consistently supported Iran diplomatically during both crises.
This solidarity appeared to win the trust and goodwill of both the Iranian leadership and the Iranian public.
In Pakistan, there was growing optimism that decades of mistrust were finally giving way to a genuine partnership with a friendly neighbour on its southwestern frontier.
Pakistan also worked sincerely to prevent the widening of the conflict across the Middle East. Through quiet diplomacy and balanced engagement, Islamabad played an important role in averting a direct military clash between Iran and several Arab States. This was at the cost of annoying some Arab States.
Although UAE has signed a defence agreement with India, gratuitously, the UAE has made a shift in its policy and has quietly reached out to Pakistan, seeking re-engagement to resolve the Iran-US conflict. The move comes after an apparent realization among Emirati decision-makers that Pakistan is not on the wrong side and is too important a country to be ignored.
Notably, Pakistan became one of the few countries trusted by all sides to act as a credible mediator.
However, those hopes received a serious setback following the recent visit of Abbas Araghchi to New Delhi for the BRICS meeting hosted by India.
During his visit, Araghchi delivered a lengthy speech praising India and celebrating Indo-Iranian friendship. He described Chabahar as the “golden gate” symbolising the enduring partnership between the two countries and passionately urged India to rejoin and reinvest in the project.
This development deeply disappointed many in Pakistan because Iran is fully aware of Pakistan’s security concerns regarding Chabahar.
Pakistan has concrete evidence that the port and its surrounding network have been used by hostile intelligence agencies and regional actors to funnel weapons and to support militant groups operating against Pakistan through Afghan territory.
Adding to Pakistan’s apprehensions was the striking fact that during the prolonged and devastating bombardment of Iran by the US and Israel, virtually every strategic target across Iran came under attack, yet Chabahar remained untouched.
This raised troubling questions within Pakistani strategic circles regarding the larger geopolitical calculations surrounding the port and the competing regional alignments shaping the future of South Asia and the Middle East.
Pakistan nevertheless continues to pursue a policy rooted in restraint, diplomacy, and peaceful coexistence.
Despite repeated betrayals, provocations, and security threats from multiple directions, Pakistan has consistently preferred dialogue over confrontation and regional cooperation over conflict.
The tragedy for Pakistan is not that it sought friendship with its neighbours, but that its sincerity was repeatedly met with suspicion, hostility, and strategic opportunism.
Pakistan-US Uneven Connection
The narrative would indeed remain incomplete without examining the role of the United States in shaping Pakistan’s foreign relations and strategic outlook.
Pakistan’s relationship with the United States has perhaps been the most paradoxical chapter in its foreign policy history. Few countries have served American strategic interests as loyally and consistently as Pakistan, yet few allies have been subjected to as much mistrust, coercion, and sanctions.
From the early years of the Cold War, Pakistan aligned itself with the Western bloc and became a frontline ally of Washington against Soviet expansionism.
Pakistan joined American-sponsored defence pacts such as SEATO and CENTO, provided military facilities, intelligence cooperation, and strategic access, and repeatedly placed its national interests secondary to the larger geopolitical objectives of the United States.
Yet, despite Pakistan’s sacrifices and loyalty, Washington’s strategic tilt persistently remained toward India — even during the period when India was openly aligned with the Soviet Union.
This contradiction has puzzled generations of Pakistanis. While Pakistan was rewarded with temporary military and economic assistance whenever it became strategically useful, it was simultaneously subjected to sanctions, pressure tactics, and diplomatic humiliation whenever American interests shifted elsewhere.
Pakistan became, in many ways, America’s “most allied ally” and at the same time one of its most sanctioned partners.
During the anti-Soviet Afghan jihad of the 1980s, Pakistan once again became the frontline state serving American strategic objectives.
After the Soviet withdrawal, however, Pakistan was abruptly abandoned and sanctioned under the Pressler Amendment, despite having played the decisive role in defeating Soviet ambitions in Afghanistan.
The same pattern repeated itself after 9/11. Pakistan became a key non-NATO ally in the so-called War on Terror, suffering immense human and economic losses, internal destabilisation, terrorism, and social fragmentation.
More than eighty thousand Pakistanis lost their lives, while the economy suffered hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.
Yet throughout this period, Pakistan was constantly accused of “double games,” threatened with punitive actions, and treated with suspicion rather than gratitude.
Many analysts believe that Washington never truly desired a strong, independent, and strategically autonomous Pakistan.
Several Western scholars have argued that the American establishment historically preferred a Pakistan that remained dependent, controlled, and strategically manageable.
As noted by American scholars and writers studying South Asian geopolitics, policy planners in Washington during the early 1950s had already conceptualised Pakistan primarily as a security asset rather than as an equal sovereign partner.
Despite Pakistan’s extraordinary contributions to American strategic objectives over seven decades, the US continued steadily nurturing India as its long-term strategic partner.
Today, India is viewed by Washington as the principal counterweight to the rise of China in Asia, while Pakistan is often treated merely through the narrow prism of security and counterterrorism.
The United States Changed Tilt
For the first time in nearly eight decades, the United States under the leadership of Donald Trump appears to be displaying a comparatively favourable inclination toward Pakistan and, in certain respects, seems less unconditionally aligned with India than previous American administrations.
Several factors may be contributing to this shift: the four-day India-Pakistan war, the changing geopolitical landscape in South Asia, India’s increasingly assertive and independent posture, New Delhi’s growing proximity to Israel, strains in Indo-US expectations, and Pakistan’s renewed strategic relevance in regional stability as a net security stabiliser, Middle Eastern diplomacy, counterterrorism, and connectivity projects.
Pakistan’s balanced diplomacy during recent regional crises and its emerging role as a mediator have also enhanced its international standing.
However, whether this apparent policy recalibration represents a genuine long-term strategic shift or merely a temporary adjustment shaped by Trump’s personal style and immediate geopolitical compulsions remains an open question.
Historically, American policy institutions have viewed India as a long-term strategic partner because of its size, market potential, and role in counterbalancing China. The US and Israel in pursuit of their imperialist ambitions, view India as a natural ally.
It therefore remains uncertain whether any present warmth toward Pakistan will survive beyond the Trump era, or whether the traditional American tilt toward India will eventually reassert itself once political leadership changes in Washington. The US has approved a defence package worth 428 million dollars for India, which includes AH-64E Apache attack helicopters.
Pakistan – China Relationship
In sharp contrast stands Pakistan’s relationship with China. Despite ideological differences — one being an Islamic Republic and the other a Communist State — the friendship between Pakistan and China has remained remarkably steady, sincere, and mutually beneficial.
Unlike other powers, China never exploited Pakistan’s vulnerabilities, never imposed political dictates, and never abandoned Pakistan during difficult times.
The Pakistan-China relationship was built not merely on temporary strategic convenience but on trust developed over decades.
China stood by Pakistan diplomatically during critical moments, supported Pakistan’s defence modernisation, and consistently backed Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity at international forums.
The two countries transformed their friendship into a comprehensive strategic partnership that today constitutes one of the most stable bilateral relationships in the world.
The flagship manifestation of this partnership is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), linking Gwadar Port to Western China through a vast network of infrastructure, energy, industrial, and connectivity projects.
China views Pakistan not as a subordinate client state but as a trusted strategic partner and gateway connecting South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Sea.
For Pakistan, China emerged as a dependable friend that invested in Pakistan’s development when many others sought merely to exploit its geography or manipulate its politics.
It is therefore not surprising that hostile regional and international forces have consistently attempted to sabotage Pakistan-China cooperation.
The persistent attacks on Chinese nationals and CPEC-related projects are not isolated acts of terrorism; they are part of a larger geopolitical design aimed at disrupting the strategic convergence between Islamabad and Beijing.
Pakistan’s foreign policy experience over the last seven decades thus reflects a painful but important lesson: ideology, religion, and proclaimed friendship often proved less reliable than sincerity, consistency, and respect for sovereignty.
Pakistan sought peace with India but received hostility. It sought Islamic brotherhood with Afghanistan and Iran but encountered distrust and strategic competition. It served American interests loyally but was repeatedly sanctioned and sidelined.
Yet with China, despite differences in ideology and political systems, Pakistan found a partner that largely honoured its commitments and stood by Pakistan through moments of adversity.
This reality continues to shape Pakistan’s strategic thinking in an increasingly turbulent regional and global environment.
The Final Word
In the emerging multipolar world order, Pakistan is increasingly striving to pursue a balanced, independent, and pragmatic foreign policy based on national interests rather than bloc politics.
Having suffered heavily in the past by becoming entangled in rival power camps and proxy conflicts, Pakistan now seeks constructive relations with all major powers and regional states without becoming part of any exclusive geopolitical axis.
Islamabad desires friendly relations simultaneously with China, the United States, the Muslim world, Russia, Central Asia, and neighbouring countries, while avoiding participation in confrontational alliances directed against any state.
Pakistan’s strategic vision increasingly emphasises geo-economics over geopolitics, regional connectivity over confrontation, and diplomacy over conflict.
Its objective is to transform its unique geographic location from a battleground of competing powers into a bridge linking South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.
Despite immense external pressures, Pakistan continues to advocate dialogue, peaceful coexistence, sovereign equality, and collective security as the only sustainable path toward regional peace and prosperity.
About the Author
Brigadier (Retd) Asif Haroon Raja, SI (M) is a war veteran. He is Command and Staff Course and War Course qualified, holds an MSc in War Studies, and served as Defence Attaché in Egypt and Sudan, as well as Dean of the Corps of Military Attachés in Cairo.
He is a defence, security, and geopolitical analyst, international columnist, author of five books, former Chairman of Thinkers Forum Pakistan, Patron-in-Chief of Centre for Development Studies Think Tank, Director of Meesakh Research Centre; he regularly appears on media platforms.
