There are rough seas ahead. Before U.S. soldiers finished their withdrawal from Afghanistan on August 30, 2021, Pakistan was already having difficulty readjusting its foreign policy to a changed regional and global reality. Things are now more unclear than ever before Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2025. For a seat at the top table, Pakistan can no longer take full use of its geostrategic location.
Since President-elect Donald Trump truly means business, Pakistan, which is squeezed between rival and conflicting US interests in China, India, and Iran, needs to have something valuable to offer the next US administration. His prior term as president demonstrated his view of foreign affairs as a transactional process: give some, receive some.
