ISLAMABAD: The new United States (US) administration of President Donald Trump will continue viewing Pakistan through the “China-India lens,” Pakistani foreign affairs experts said on Monday, as Islamabad pledged to strengthen its relations with Washington.
Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for Monday at 1700 GMT inside the Capitol Rotunda as he returns to the presidency four years after being voted out during a pandemic-driven economic collapse, marking an unprecedented political comeback.
Relations between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, had been strained because of Pakistan’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan, a claim Islamabad denies. Ties worsened further during the tenure of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who welcomed the Taliban’s 2021 takeover and accused Washington of trying to oust him. Since Khan’s ouster in 2022, PM Shehbaz Sharif’s government has made frequent efforts to repair the damaged relations.
But Pakistani foreign affairs experts believe that the US is unlikely to seek a significant expansion of ties with Islamabad in the near future and will approach it keeping its China and India policies in view, and remaining largely focused on security cooperation, particularly in counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
“The biggest challenge for Pakistan is that the Trump administration will continue its previous policies of looking at Pakistan through the China-India lens,” Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, a professor at Quaid-e-Azam University’s School of Politics and International Relations, told Arab News.
“Now, the biggest challenge for us is how to convince the Americans that though we will be not a part of the American policies to contain China, but at the same time, we could be a part of Americans’ policies in addressing the non-traditional security challenges and on Afghanistan.”
He said the new Trump administration could use the incarceration of Pakistani political figures, including ex-PM Khan, to influence the incumbent Pakistani government.
“People think that Imran Khan is an established fact, the political divide in Pakistan exists and that divide could be exploited by the external powers for pursuing their agendas within the country or in the region,” Dr. Jaspal added.
Trump’s special envoy nominee Richard Grenell urged President Joe Biden’s administration to use its last days in power to push for the release of Khan, who has been in jail for more than a year on a slew of charges, so he could run for office in Pakistan.
While a Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson declined to comment on Grenell’s statement at the time, the Pakistani government and allies have criticized Grenell’s comments.
On Monday, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said Pakistan maintained close relations with the US, marked by multi-layered cooperation in economy, trade, people-to-people connections, security and counter-terrorism, and Islamabad seeks to further solidify them.
“Pakistan-US relations have a very long history, and the relations remain rich and dense, and we would continue to work with the new administration to further solidify and strengthen this vital relationship,” Shafqat told Arab News.
“We seek to further strengthen these ties by ensuring the continued positive growth of bilateral relations.”
Senator Sherry Rehman, who has previously served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, said every transition offers opportunities for a reset, and Pakistan needs to state its own goals for a broader bilateral path to widen its relationship with the US from a highly “securitized” lens to a more robust economic and commercial one.
“Islamabad should make a clear agenda with defined milestones for consistent engagement over better terms of trade, not just wait for Washington to respond to regional headwinds, in which Pakistan finds itself seeking balance against an Indian arms race in South Asia,” she told Arab News.
“There should be no diplomatic diffidence in stating the country’s strategic interests while iterating confidence in rebuilding trust between the two countries [Pakistan and the US].”
Masood Khan, another former Pakistani ambassador to the US, said Pakistan should try to invest “new energy” into economic cooperation between the two countries and remove any “shackles” in the strategic domain.
“The full contours of President Trump’s policy toward South Asia haven’t become very clear, but we have shared strategic interests in the region and beyond,” he told Arab News.
“This is called Trump 2.0, so it will not be the repetition of the previous tenure,” he said, adding that Trump is more “clear-headed and more forthright” regarding his priorities this time.
Dr. Salma Malik, another foreign affairs expert, said if the US adopts policies directed against China, every action or policy decision it takes will have a “direct or indirect impact on Pakistan.”
“Therefore, it is important not to overreact or panic, instead, we should cautiously approach developments, assess opportunities, and respond accordingly,” she said.
New Trump administration to view Pakistan through ‘China-India lens’ as Islamabad pledges stronger ties — experts
https://arab.news/nsk7u
New Trump administration to view Pakistan through ‘China-India lens’ as Islamabad pledges stronger ties — experts
- Islamabad-Washington ties, strained over Pakistan’s alleged support of Taliban, further worsened after ex-PM Khan blamed his ouster on Washington
- Analysts suggest Islamabad to make a clear agenda with defined milestones, cautiously approach developments in relations and respond accordingly
‘Look ahead or look up?’: Pakistan’s police face new challenge as militants take to drone warfare
- Officials say militants are using weapons and equipment left behind after allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan
- Police in northwest Pakistan say electronic jammers have helped repel more than 300 drone attacks since mid-2025
BANNU, Pakistan: On a quiet morning last July, Constable Hazrat Ali had just finished his prayers at the Miryan police station in Pakistan’s volatile northwest when the shouting began.
His colleagues in Bannu district spotted a small speck in the sky. Before Ali could take cover, an explosion tore through the compound behind him. It was not a mortar or a suicide vest, but an improvised explosive dropped from a drone.
“Now should we look ahead or look up [to sky]?” said Ali, who was wounded again in a second drone strike during an operation against militants last month. He still carries shrapnel scars on his back, hand and foot, physical reminders of how the battlefield has shifted upward.
For police in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the fight against militancy has become a three-dimensional conflict. Pakistani officials say armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are increasingly deploying commercial drones modified to drop explosives, alongside other weapons they say were acquired after the US military withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Security analysts say the trend mirrors a wider global pattern, where low-cost, commercially available drones are being repurposed by non-state actors from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, challenging traditional policing and counterinsurgency tactics.
The escalation comes as militant violence has surged across Pakistan. Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported a 73 percent rise in combat-related deaths in 2025, with fatalities climbing to 3,387 from 1,950 a year earlier. Militants have increasingly shifted operations from northern tribal belts to southern KP districts such as Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
“Bannu is an important town of southern KP, and we are feeling the heat,” said Sajjad Khan, the region’s police chief. “There has been an enormous increase in the number of incidents of terrorism… It is a mix of local militants and Afghan militants.”
In 2025 alone, Bannu police recorded 134 attacks on stations, checkpoints and personnel. At least 27 police officers were killed, while authorities say 53 militants died in the clashes. Many assaults involved coordinated, multi-pronged attacks using heavy weapons.
Drones have also added a new layer of danger. What began as reconnaissance tools have been weaponized with improvised devices that rely on gravity rather than guidance systems.
“Earlier, they used to drop [explosives] in bottles. After that, they started cutting pipes for this purpose,” said Jamshed Khan, head of the regional bomb disposal unit. “Now we have encountered a new type: a pistol hand grenade.”
When dropped from above, he explained, a metal pin ignites the charge on impact.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Raza Khan, who narrowly survived a drone strike during construction at a checkpoint, described devices packed with nails, bullets and metal fragments.
“They attach a shuttlecock-like piece on top. When they drop it from a height, its direction remains straight toward the ground,” he said.
TARGETING CIVILIANS
Officials say militants’ rapid adoption of drone technology has been fueled by access to equipment on informal markets, while police procurement remains slower.
“It is easy for militants to get such things,” Sajjad Khan said. “And for us, I mean, we have to go through certain process and procedures as per rules.”
That imbalance began to shift in mid-2025, when authorities deployed electronic anti-drone systems in the region. Before that, officers relied on snipers or improvised nets strung over police compounds.
“Initially, when we did not have that anti-drone system, their strikes were effective,” the police chief said, adding that more than 300 attempted drone attacks have since been repelled or electronically disrupted. “That was a decisive moment.”
Police say militants have also targeted civilians, killing nine people in drone attacks this year, often in communities accused of cooperating with authorities. Several police stations suffered structural damage.
Bannu’s location as a gateway between Pakistan and Afghanistan has made it a security flashpoint since colonial times. But officials say the aerial dimension of the conflict has placed unprecedented strain on local forces.
For constables like Hazrat Ali, new technology offers some protection, but resolve remains central.
“Nowadays, they have ammunition and all kinds of the most modern weapons. They also have large drones,” he said. “When we fight them, we fight with our courage and determination.”
