Foreign relations of Pakistan
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan emerged as an independent country through the partition of India in August 1947 and was admitted as a United Nations member state in September 1947. It is currently the second-most populous country within the Muslim world, and is also the only Muslim-majority country openly in possession of nuclear weapons. The country shares land borders with India, Iran, Afghanistan, and China.
The country has extensive trade relations with the European Union and with several countries globally., Pakistan does not recognize Israel and its ties with India remain frozen since 2019.
From a geopolitical perspective, Pakistan's location is strategically important as it is situated at the crossroads of major maritime and land transit routes between the Middle East and South Asia, while also serving as a bridge between the Arabian Sea and the energy-rich regions of Central Asia. Since the partition of India, the Kashmir conflict has defined the India–Pakistan relationship: the two countries claim each other's zones of control in Kashmir, but are separated by a ceasefire boundary known as the Line of Control. Pakistan has close bilateral ties with China and the Muslim world, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Gulf Arab countries. As a part of the First World during the Cold War, Pakistan cooperated with the United States to combat the global influence of the Soviet Union, though this relationship later became strained over the course of the war on terror. Pakistan is an active member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Foreign policy of Pakistan
Pakistan's foreign policy seeks the 'promotion of Pakistan as a dynamic, progressive, moderate, and democratic Islamic country; developing friendly relations with all countries of the world, especially major powers and immediate neighbors; consolidating our commercial and economic cooperation with international community."Pakistan's foreign policy is meant to formalize and define its interactions with foreign nations and standardize interactions with organizations, corporations and individual citizens. Backed by the semi-agricultural and semi-industrialized economy, Pakistan is the 44th largest and 26th largest economic power and 7th largest military in the world in terms of active personnel, with a defense budget of , 2.7% of its GDP. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan is the official charged with state-to-state diplomacy, although the Prime minister maintains an ultimate authority over foreign policy. The state foreign policy includes defining the national interest, as well as the economic interest and strategies chosen both to safeguard that and to achieve its policy goals. Following the general election held in May 2013, Tariq Fatimi and NSA Sartaj Aziz were designated as advisers to the Prime Minister on foreign and strategic policies. After the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif's government in July 2017, Khawaja Muhammad Asif held the portfolio of foreign minister under the premiership of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. After the victory of Imran Khan Niazi in the Pakistan General Elections 2018, Shah Mehmood Qureshi was named the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Subsequently, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari became foreign minister after the political crisis-a position previously held by his grandfather, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Hina Rabbani Khar.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Vision
In 1947, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the state of Pakistan, clearly described the principles and objectives of Pakistan's foreign policy in a broadcast message, which is featured prominently in a quotation on the homepage of Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website: "The foundation of our foreign policy is friendship with all nations across the globe."On 15 August 1947, outlining the foreign policy of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam observed:
"Our objective should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial and friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with world at large. We have no aggressive designs against any one. We stand by the United Nations Charter and will gladly make our contribution to the peace and prosperity of the world."
Historical overview
Since its independence in 1947, Pakistan's foreign policy has encompassed difficult relations with the neighbouring Soviet Union who maintained a close military and ideological interaction with the neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan and India. During most of 1947–1991, the USSR support was given to Republic of India, over which it has fought three wars on Kashmir conflict. During the 1960s, Pakistan's relations with and neighbouring Afghanistan have also been extremely difficult due to the latter's contest over the Durand Line. The foreign relations with Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and China remain important and based on the extensive cooperation in national security and economical interests in the Persian Gulf and wide-ranging bilateral relations with the United States and other Western countries. With the growing influence of the USSR in the region, Pakistan cemented close security relations with China in Asia and United Kingdom and Germany in Europe during most of the Cold War. Pakistan has had a fluctuating relationship with the United States, Pakistan played a crucial role in the establishment of US-China relations in the 1970s, mediating between the Henry Kissenger and Mao Zedong. At the same time, it also assisted in establishing relationships with other East Asian countries.In recent years, Pakistan's ties with Russia have moved away from Cold War-era hostilities, and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the U.S. has further pushed the country towards Russia and China. Prime Minister Imran Khan visited Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin as Russia was launching the invasion of Ukraine. He has previously criticised America's "war on terror". After the fall of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf -led coalition government in 2022, the emergence of multiple crises has exacerbated the instability of its foreign policy.
Pakistan–China relations
China has played a significant role in the development, economy and security of Pakistan, with relationship beginning in 1951 when Pakistan was among the first countries to sever diplomatic ties with the Republic of China and recognizes the People's Republic of China on Mainland China as the sole representative. Since then, both countries have placed considerable importance on the maintenance of an extremely close and supportive special relationship and the two countries have regularly exchanged high-level visits resulting in a variety of agreements. The PRC has provided economic, military, and technical assistance to Pakistan, and each country considers the other a close strategic ally. Since the advent of the 21st century, Pakistan and China have strengthened their relations through bilateral trade, military agreements and supporting each other on key issues. The intensifying US-China Strategic Rivalry has put Pakistan in an extremely difficult situation to maintain ties with both of these states. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari accused UN Human Rights Office report on Xinjiang were "taken out of context", and Pakistan supports China's activities for socio-economic development, harmony and peace, and stability.A cornerstone of the success of China's Belt and Road Initiative is the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. CPEC contains initiatives worth a total of $62 billion, such as infrastructure, energy, economic zones, and the development of the Gwadar port. A Chinese spokesperson said in 2022 that "the bond of friendship and mutual assistance between the Chinese and Pakistani people is stronger than gold, and the two countries' iron-clad friendship is deeply rooted in the people and boasts strong vitality.
Muslim world
After Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other Muslim countries and made a wholehearted bid for leadership of the Muslim world, or at least for leadership in achieving its unity. The Ali brothers had sought to project Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, in large part due to its large manpower and military strength. A top-ranking Muslim League leader, Khaliquzzaman, declared that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries into Islamistan – a pan-Islamic entity. Such developments did not get American approval and British Prime Minister Clement Attlee voiced international opinion at the time by stating that he wished that India and Pakistan would re-unite. Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction to Pakistan's Pan-Islamic aspirations. Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani attempt to dominate other Muslim states.Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Somalia, Azerbaijan, and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between these countries and Pakistan. However, Pakistan also masterminded an attack on the Afghan city of Jalalabad during the Afghan Civil War to establish an Islamic government there. Pakistan had wished to foment an 'Islamic Revolution' which would transcend national borders covering Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
On the other hand, Pakistan's relations with Iran have been strained at times due to sectarian tensions. Iran and Saudi Arabia used Pakistan as a battleground for their proxy sectarian war and by the 1990s, Pakistan's support for the Sunni Taliban organization in Afghanistan became a problem for Shia-led Iran which opposed a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Tensions between Iran and Pakistan intensified in 1998, when Iran accused Pakistan of war crimes as Pakistani warplanes bombarded Afghanistan's last Shia stronghold in support of the Taliban. Although Iran later established ties with the reestablished Taliban government in Afghanistan, the insurgency in Balochistan has increased friction in relations between Iran and Pakistan. In the 1960s, the problems over the Durand Line escalated with Afghanistan which led to open hostilities in the 1970s. After the Taliban took power in 2021, border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have increased sharply.