Pakistan’s military and diplomatic standing in the region has strengthened, while India’s efforts to limit Islamabad’s regional space appear to be becoming less effective, prominent US foreign policy expert Daniel Markey has said.
In an interview with Indian news platform The Wire, Markey described the growing cooperation among Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye as an important development for Islamabad.
He said Pakistan’s expanding ties with Gulf countries were making it harder for India to keep Islamabad distanced from the Middle East. He added that closer trilateral cooperation between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye could boost Pakistan’s defence capabilities, financial backing and influence in the region.
According to Markey, Pakistan’s expanding network of regional partnerships is placing limits on India’s diplomatic reach, military room for manoeuvre and access to the Gulf.
The US expert noted that India had spent billions of dollars developing strategic relationships in the Middle East. However, he said Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts were helping Islamabad re-establish itself as an important regional power.
Markey said stronger cooperation between Pakistan and its regional partners could make India more cautious about taking military action or making any risky move along the border. He added that the development had also challenged India’s narrative that Pakistan’s role in regional affairs had declined.
He further said Pakistan’s nuclear, conventional and advanced technological defence capabilities continued to pose a major challenge to any attempt by India to establish unilateral dominance in the region.
Markey maintained that India’s strategy of diplomatically pressuring Pakistan was, in effect, contributing to Islamabad’s growing importance in regional affairs.
He said Pakistan had historically played a significant role in managing regional crises through its battle-tested military and had demonstrated its strategic value during the two-decade conflict in Afghanistan.
Daniel Markey has studied Pakistan and South Asian affairs extensively over the years. His recent work has also examined Pakistan-US relations and the evolving geopolitical landscape of the region.
