ISLAMABAD: As the clock ticked down to US President Donald Trump’s deadline to destroy Iran’s civilisation last week, hope emerged from an unlikely corner, with Pakistan’s prime minister first seeking — and within hours securing — a two-week ceasefire between the warring sides.
Now, with a round of talks concluded in Islamabad and frantic negotiations underway to secure a second go, Pakistan is basking in its new role as a global peacemaker, analysts say.
“Pakistan very much wants to ride the momentum that it has been enjoying over the last few weeks as a critical mediator,” Michael Kugelman, senior South Asia fellow at the Atlantic Council, told AFP.
It is a remarkable turnaround for a South Asian country long seen internationally through a security lens, as it battled armed extremists at home and the cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
The mediator of the peace talks had itself faced security challenges with its neighbours last year — responding to a brief but intense conflict with India in May and engaging in two rounds of tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan, where Islamabad says militant groups were being harboured.
Raja Qaiser Ahmed, a professor of international relations at Islamabad’s Quaid-i-Azam University, said Pakistan’s robust military responses in both conflicts helped burnish its regional credentials.
“In international politics, the currency is power,” he said. “When you have demonstrated it operationally, and now you are just building it up diplomatically.”
Kugelman hailed Pakistan as “an unsung success story when it comes to strategic autonomy.”
“Pakistan is looking to change global perceptions about its capacities as a global player,” he said.
“It does not like the fact that it has a poor global image and wants to essentially push back against its critics and show that it has the capacity to affect change and be influential on the global stage.”
Unique geography
When the US-Israel war on Iran broke out, quickly engulfing the Middle East, Islamabad was careful not to take sides between Washington and Tehran.
Since US President Donald Trump took office, Pakistan has seen ties warm significantly, after Islamabad lauded him for having helped mediate the end of the conflict with India. Delhi denies Washington played a significant role.
A visit to Washington by Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif and powerful army chief Asim Munir followed, with Trump now often referring to the latter as his “favourite field marshal”.
Pakistan shares a roughly 900-kilometre border with Iran, with which it maintains warm relations underpinned by strong cultural and trade ties.
Early on Sunday, when US Vice President JD Vance took the podium in Islamabad to declare that no agreement had been reached after marathon 21-hour talks, he was also quick to praise Pakistan.
He thanked Sharif and Munir by name, saying they “did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal.”
Iran’s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf had similar words of thanks.
Asif Durrani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Tehran, said Pakistan had proven its importance with the talks, even if the first round did not lead to a deal.
“I think Pakistan is a power to be reckoned, and very much Pakistan is a player. Its geography is so unique that it cannot be ignored,” he said.
As a neighbour of China as well, Pakistan has cultivated good relations with Beijing, which diplomats and Trump himself have said was key in getting Iran to the negotiating table.
Pakistan also has close ties with the Gulf nations that have been pulled into the conflict by Iranian retaliatory action. That includes Saudi Arabia, with whom it has a mutual defence pact.
On Monday, Pakistani PM Sharif said efforts remained underway to continue negotiations, and a second round of talks remained a possibility.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that peace talks between the United States and Iran could resume in Pakistan “over the next two days”.
“Something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. “It’s more likely, you know why? Because the field marshal is doing a great job,” he said.
Trump said Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir was doing a “great job” on the talks.
“He’s fantastic, and therefore it’s more likely that we go back there,” Trump said.
“I just think he’s a great guy. The Field Marshal. You know he ended the war with India, saved 30 million people,” he added.
For Kugelman, Pakistan emerges with its international image strengthened.
“It’s also strengthened its image. It’s been able to project itself as a peacemaker.”
