Islamabad (Pakistan Khabar) — Renowned American foreign policy expert Daniel Markey has said that Pakistan’s regional military and diplomatic importance has increased, while India’s efforts to isolate Pakistan at the regional level appear to be failing.
Speaking in an interview with Indian news platform The Wire, Daniel Markey described the growing cooperation between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye as an important achievement for Islamabad.
According to him, Pakistan’s growing ties with Gulf countries are weakening India’s efforts aimed at keeping Islamabad away from the Middle East. The trilateral cooperation between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye could increase Pakistan’s defense capabilities, financial support, and regional influence.
Daniel Markey said that Pakistan’s growing regional alliances are limiting India’s diplomatic influence, military freedom, and access to the Gulf region. India spent billions of dollars establishing special relations in the Middle East; however, as a result of Pakistan’s effective diplomacy, Islamabad is once again emerging as a center of regional power.
He said that growing cooperation between Pakistan and its regional partners could force India to think several times before taking any military action or dangerous step along the border. This development has also weakened India’s narrative that Pakistan has lost its importance in regional affairs.
According to the American expert, Pakistan’s nuclear, conventional, and advanced defense capabilities are a major obstacle to India’s unilateral regional dominance, while India’s anti-Pakistan diplomatic strategy is ultimately also contributing to an increase in Islamabad’s regional importance.
He said that Pakistan has long played an important role in regional crises through its battle-tested military, and Pakistani forces also demonstrated their strategic importance during the two-decade-long war in Afghanistan.