Opinion | Pakistan Has Already Got Its 'Prize', Even If The US-Iran Talks Collapsed |
Apr 14, 2026 15:50 pm IST
Opinion | Pakistan Has Already Got Its 'Prize', Even If The US-Iran Talks Collapsed
For all the brand packaging Pakistan has done in the last few days on the international stage, the backstage scenario remains pretty dangerous.
Sushant Sareen Sushant Sareen Columnist
Sushant Sareen Columnist
Only the eternal optimist or someone completely detached from reality could have expected the Islamabad talks between the US and Iran to lead to an actual peace deal. That the talks collapsed after marathon discussions doesn't come as a surprise. Even the 'event manager' - Pakistan - which was basking in its newfound glory as the global peacemaker, the saviour of the world, and centre of international diplomacy, had started to dampen its expectations. Mouthpieces of the regime had started spinning stories about how Pakistan had fulfilled its duty to the world by organising the talks between the two belligerents. They, however, insisted that the outcome of the parleys depended on the protagonists and not on Pakistan. Of course, had the talks succeeded, Pakistan would have taken the credit.
As far as Islamabad is concerned, it has already milked the event for whatever it was worth and did all the virtue-signalling possible to burnish its image in the comity of nations. It will now take stock of all its gains and the possible losses it might incur in the coming days, weeks and months because of the role it played as a broker.
On the plus side of Pakistan's balance sheet is the profile it believes it has built up for itself as the venue of the talks. While talks between the US and Iran have been held earlier in various cities - Geneva, Muscat, Doha - Pakistan presented the Islamabad talks as something epochal. The hype within Pakistan and its military - and state-controlled private media - was bigger than anything in the international media. The global media mentioned Pakistan, in most part, only as the location of the parleys. The stream of phone calls between Pakistan's (nominal)........