Pakistan entered 2025 under the shadow of the Pahalgam massacre. It arrived under pressure, alert to risk, and newly visible. However, brief albeit unimagined war with India, revived attention from Washington, and a deepening defence compact with Saudi Arabia gave the year a sharper edge than most. For a country long discussed as a problem to be managed, this was a season of agency.

The May confrontation with India was the hinge. Four days of drones, missiles, and artillery pushed both states closer to escalation than at any point since 1971. Pakistan neither initiated the crisis nor treated it lightly. The response was calibrated across domains, signalling capacity without indulging spectacle. Deterrence held. That outcome mattered more than casualty claims or nationalist noise.

What followed revealed even more. Washington moved quickly, publicly claiming credit for de-escalation and privately engaging Rawalpindi with an ease absent in recent years. Field Marshal Asim Munir’s White House engagement broke precedent and unsettled New Delhi. Islamabad took note. When crises sharpen, the United States still treats Pakistan as a consequential security actor.

This shift did not go unnoticed abroad. The Diplomat, in a widely circulated year-ender, described 2025 as “the year Pakistan stepped back into the spotlight.” The journal credited Pakistan’s restrained military conduct during the May crisis, its tightening line on militancy, and its renewed........

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