Pakistan is finding its diplomatic mojo

For much of the recent past Pakistan has maintained a cautious posture toward the Middle East region, reflecting domestic political turbulence and economic crises. This era of passive diplomacy, however, appears to be over. Pakistan’s re-engagement with the Middle East is the emergence of a more confident, purposeful foreign policy as Islamabad begins to recognize that stability in the Gulf is inseparable from stability at home.

Islamabad has discernibly begun to assert a more ambitious regional role calibrated to shifting geopolitical realities and rising security risks across the broader region. By strengthening its security partnership with Riyadh, engaging constructively with global diplomatic platforms and actively opposing a catastrophic regional war, it is stepping into a role that reflects both its responsibilities and its interests.

At the heart of this recalibration is a recognition in Pakistan that the region may be back on the edge of another major instability with dangerous consequences for all. 

While regional security anxieties are at their peak and Pakistan seemingly remains at the periphery, Islamabad understands that a war that has once erupted doesn’t recognize other boundaries. Three major factors are currently driving Islamabad’s enhanced diplomatic-security profile in the region.

Pakistan must lean even deeper into its growing partnership with Saudi Arabia. This is not about dependence but about aligning long-term interests.

Adnan Rehmat

The most earnest one is Pakistan’s newly forged strategic security partnership with Saudi Arabia under which Islamabad now aligns more synchronically with risks to Riyadh and its security interests in the region. This is manifested most recently in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, along with Turkiye, managing to convince the otherwise recalcitrant US and Iran to hold bilateral talks.

The Riyadh-Islamabad security pact has emerged as a strategic anchor for both countries in uncertain times and in the backdrop of a hostile security situation in the region. This is characterized by institutionalization such as codifying collaboration across intelligence-sharing, counterterrorism, crisis response, and defense planning.

The timing is no coincidence. Pakistan, fresh off a successful and widely acknowledged demonstration of tech and strategic military superiority over India, is a natural partner in this recalibration with Riyadh.

For Islamabad, the pact delivers a central role in shaping Gulf security conversations and an opportunity to anchor its economic and security interests within a stable multilateral framework. This elevates Pakistan’s credibility as a regional actor with real diplomatic weight.

The second factor for Pakistan is a 900km shared border with Iran that will bring any war against Tehran straight to its door and expose it to retaliatory strikes, militant movements and refugee flows. These would be costly risks no other regional actor faces to the same degree as Pakistan. Any large scale conflict would force Pakistan into painful strategic choices it has long sought to avoid. Hence preventing wars instead of dealing with them is not optional – it is a matter of national security.

The third is more nuts-and-bolts: Pakistan depends heavily on the Gulf for energy supplies, trade access, investment and $30 billion annual remittances from millions of Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar. Any major disruption in the Middle East will strike at the core of Pakistan’s economic stability.

Pakistan’s foray into the diplomatic high table in the region is also helped by its decision to join the US-led ‘Board of Peace’ that seeks to lead efforts for peace and development in the region and beyond. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Turkiye are also members now. While the Board is yet to deliver any tangible results, it allows opportunities for regional and global level high diplomacy and Islamabad understands the heft it brings to global power politics for it. Pakistan’s membership is a signal to its Gulf partners that Islamabad is willing to align with them to support regional stability.

In all, its strategic focus on the Middle East is a return to global relevance for Pakistan after decades in the diplomatic wilderness. But how sustainable is Islamabad’s newfound assertiveness and a key role for itself in the region’s changing fortunes?

This lies in sticking to its strategic choice: lean even deeper into its growing partnership with Saudi Arabia. This is not about dependence but about aligning long-term interests. A stronger Pakistan-Saudi Arabian compact is not a luxury but the core of Pakistan’s regional strategy for the next decade. For once, Pakistan is shaping events in the Middle East, not being shaped by them.

– Adnan Rehmat is a Pakistan-based journalist, researcher and analyst with interests in politics, media, development and science.

X: @adnanrehmat1