From Strategic Reset to Global Leader |
By blending diplomatic deftness with an emerging export-driven economic statecraft, 2025 will be remembered as a year Pakistan reclaimed its agency on the global stage–not as a cog in great power rivalries, but as a strategic actor in its own right.
For decades, Pakistan navigated the turbulent waters of regional geopolitics, oscillating between the competing interests of great powers and managing its own internal challenges. But the year now closing saw a powerful confluence of events that pushed Islamabad toward a re-imagined role on the world stage. At the centre of this transformation was a remarkable recalibration of U.S.-Pakistan relations. An article in The Washington Times declared 2025 a “revolutionary year” for the bilateral relationship, highlighting an unexpected shift in U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy toward Islamabad, a departure from decades of mistrust and strategic ambivalence.
Trump’s earlier rhetoric often cast Pakistan in a sceptical light, but this year, Washington’s posture changed, publicly lauding Pakistan’s counterterrorism cooperation and strategic significance. The pivot began with discreet counterterrorism exchanges and found its most visible expression when Trump praised Pakistan’s security role in a national address–a moment that startled traditional policy circles in Washington. This shift was reinforced by Pakistan’s military and diplomatic performance........