Fast

Assignment 10
Pakistan Foreign policy’s fears and interests: An analysis since
inception.
Name: Uzair Ahmed Section: CS Section D
UNI ID: I201751 Due Date: 12 June
Foreign Policy
Foreign policy of a nation is considered as one of the most important policy for a nation.
Foreign policy is the behaviour or attitude that a country would adopt with other nations in
the world. Foreign policy may also be termed as a policy that a nation adopts to safeguard
its interests while interacting with other countries. Foreign policies consist of important
decision-making processes to achieve the most benefit for a nation. Government of a nation
is responsible for constituting a foreign policy because of which the country would be able
to get a greater number of benefits, secondly the country would also be able to safeguard
its security. If the foreign policy of a nation is not correctly developed or constituted, then
the whole country must face the consequences. Foreign policies are dependent upon the
interests of a country. The main objective of a foreign policy of a nation is to fulfil and
protect the interests.

Pakistan’s foreign policy

Pakistan’s foreign policy holds a lot of importance in the world. Quaid e Azam the founder of
Pakistan always saw the foreign policy of Pakistan himself. He gave the foreign policy the
utmost importance. According to him, Pakistan’s foreign policy was a policy for all. He
always stressed upon having cordial and brotherly relations with every country. For him, the
major foundation of Pakistan’s foreign policy was peace. Quaid e Azam wanted no enmity
with any country, he wanted to have peace among Pakistan and other states. Additionally,
he also always stressed upon to maintain good relations with other Muslim nations and for
the success and unity of the Muslim Ummah. https://cscr.pk/explore/themes/politics-
governance/jinnahs-vision-of-pakistans-foreign-policy-where-did-we-go-wrong/

Pakistan’s foreign policy is based upon some points. First of whole is the ideology. Pakistan
is an Islamic State, and the ideology of Pakistan is Islam. So, foreign policy is made in a way
that the ideology of Islam could be promoted and protected. To promote the ideology,
Pakistan has always tried to maintain good relations with the Muslim Ummah. Then comes,
the national security. Any country in the world always prioritizes its security over other
things. So similarly, Pakistan also would constitute the foreign policy in a way that we could
protect the national security of the nation. These two points of National Security and
Ideology are the most major foundation of Pakistan’s foreign policy. Rest of the points can
be changed keeping in mind the current affairs of the world and also the current interests of
a nation.

Fears and Interests of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy

Pakistan’s foreign policy has been always a point of conflict of interests. Pakistan faces a lot
of problems from the region specially. So, Pakistan has to make a foreign policy which could
prevent the fears of the policy to act against Pakistan. The region of Pakistan is a region full
of tensions. Since the independence, Pakistan has always faced a threat from India. India
from the beginning has tried to destabilise Pakistan so that it could claim the territory or
could claim revenge for the independence. The main cause of hatred that India has for
Pakistan is because of Islam. Hindu extremists have a heart full of enmity for Islam, so they
cannot tolerate a country made upon the ideology of Islam. Pakistan to prevent any threats
from India has always been directed into making arrangement so that we could be safe from
the unserious attitude of India. India from the first day has hated the existence of Pakistan
and also has always been more powerful than Pakistan. Pakistan has been shadowed by
India in economic capabilities. Additionally, it was alleged that Indian army has also
overshadowed Pakistan but thankfully to the spirit of Pakistan’s armed forces we have been
able to fight them from military point of view. Pakistan to fight India’s antagonistic
behaviour paired up with the powerful western military powers. As, Pakistan knew that the
western powers would not allow India to attack Pakistan. By doing so, Pakistan countered
the tactics of the Indian government.1

Since the inception of Pakistan, Pakistan and India have fought each other 4 times. These
wars resulted in huge losses on both sides. So, both sides have had an aggressive attitude
towards each other. Pakistan adopted the aggressive attitude to save its security from the
childish behaviour of India. Additionally, the issue of Kashmir is a major point in Pakistan’s
fear for India. India wants to claim the remaining area of Kashmir. To prevent this from
happening, Pakistan has been trying its level best to make the world aware of this heinous
plan of India. Pakistan also has tried to instantiate peace talks with India but problems from
both sides were an intervention in those tries. Pakistan has tended to make friends with the

1
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002088176600800103?journalCode=isqa
powerful countries so that India could understand that Pakistan cannot be fought. The
friendship of Pakistan and China also shows India that Pakistan is going with the countries
which could raise its stance against India. Secondly, Pakistan has moved to make its ties with
the Muslim countries which could also support it against India. This move did make Turkey
and Malaysia to support Pakistan on the Kashmir stance but sadly the Arab countries like
UAE went against Pakistan on Kashmir stance and vetoed Pakistan point on OIC. This
created many problems that the Muslim countries did not even support Pakistan after India
revoked the status of Kashmir on 5th August. This decision was inhumane and against the
laws of UN.

The negative stance of the Arab countries has also become a fear for Pakistan. Pakistan a
Muslim country wants to maintain and promote friendly relations with other Muslim
country. This is one of the basis of Pakistan’s foreign policy. Pakistan has a fear that it may
lose one part of the group of Muslim countries if it supports the other. The example are the
Arab countries and the rest of Muslim countries. Arabs are now building their relations with
other countries of the world to proceed in the world. Examples are the strong friendship of
Saudi Arab and USA. USA has now achieved huge success in attaining power in Saudi Arab.
While on the other hand the relations of Arab countries with Turkey, Iran and Malaysia are
deteriorating. Arab countries have always criticised Turkey’s foreign policies. The Kashmir
issue was a warning that Pakistan could have lost the Arab countries, but PM Imran Khan
took a U-turn and went against going for the Kuala Lampur Summit to save Pakistan ties
with the Arab nations. According to Mr. Erdogan the president of Turkey Saudi Arab had
warned Pakistan that if they went to the summit Saudi would have block the funding to
Pakistan and also, they demanded the payment of the former loans. 2 This clearly shows us
that Pakistan has to look to cater its fear of losing some of the countries.

Pakistan being a weak country and an under develop one needs some help from other
countries to run itself. Then the worst policies of Pakistani Governments have even created
more problems for the country. These have forced Pakistan to take loans and debts from
others to complete its works and also to be able to run properly. Since the independence,
Pakistan has had financial problems and to solve those problems Pakistan has remained
dependent upon others. Pakistan in his history has taken debts from many countries. So,

2
https://www.dawn.com/news/1523856
Pakistan’s economy is known as a dependent economy. The countries which we receive
debts or aid have a huge say over our foreign policy. Some of the countries that provide us
with aid and loans are Saudi Arab, China and USA. These countries have the power to direct
our foreign policy and because of which Pakistan can’t independently decide its external
relations with others. And Pakistan also has to live with the fear that, if it doesn’t create a
foreign policy that would satisfy the countries that provide the loan then there is a fear that
those countries may stop providing loans to Pakistan. So, being economically and financially
dependent upon others causes Pakistan to live with the fear that it would not be able to
create a foreign policy independently. US takes full advantage of Pakistan economic
dependency and dictates Pakistan to do everything that say.

Recently, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister also said that they were had to agree to demands of
US so that IMF could bail out Pakistan crumbling economy by giving 6 billion dollars. Then
also the economic aid given by Saudi Arab to Pakistan also sits as a heavy rock on Pakistan’s
head. This aid makes it difficult for Pakistan to create and maintain relations with Iran
because the relations between Saudi Arab and Iran are not so cordial and friendly. This
shows us the pressure of Saudi Arab which acts as a fear on the head of Pakistan’s
government, and we cannot be autonomous in our foreign policy.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/475042-the-cost-of-economic-dependency.

And another fear for Pakistan in its foreign policy is the fear of the Afghan Situation. From
the 1970s Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan and then the United State’s war on
terrorism after 9/11 has caused many problems for Pakistan. The first war on Afghanistan by
the Russians saw a lot of Afghans migrating to Pakistan, bringing with them drugs, Ak 47s
and many other problems. Then after the 9/11, again the same situation was seen in
Pakistan. This time even more Afghanis migrated to Pakistan with even more problems. So,
the issue of Afghanistan has always been a problem in Pakistan. The Taliban government in
Afghanistan has never remained peaceful, it has always caused problems. Even United State
was not able to defeat Taliban. During the 9/11 war, Pakistan saw a large increase in
terrorist attacks. Huge number of people died, while the losses to Pakistan were
innumerable. So, in reality Pakistan’s government have a fear for the Taliban Government.
Pakistan has always tried to be on the side of that nation which could bring peace to the
Afghan issue because it would in the end result in peace for the whole region. So, during the
9/11 war Pakistan fully supported United States because Pakistan had a view that United
States had the power to solve the issue of Taliban. In support of this issue, Pakistan
cooperated with United Stated on every scale, also provided them with any kind of help that
they would need to solve the issue. Pakistan even provided their bases to the United States
army so that they could fight against Taliban and defeat them. Sadly, the United States army
was not able to defeat the Taliban and could not bring peace to the region. The recent news
of United States President Joe Biden calling for the pulling out of the United States troops
from Afghanistan once again ignited the spark of fear in the Pakistan Government’s heart.
This created fear as Pakistan thinks that the move of United States pulling out of
Afghanistan may once again give ground to Taliban. Taliban could use this opportunity to
start clashes and fights with the Afghan Government again and additionally, Pakistan’s
government thinks that Taliban may even take revenge from Pakistan for supporting United
States. They may start terrorist attacks again in Pakistan. So, this fear of Taliban pushes
Pakistan to support the country which could help them in this issue. Pakistan would stand
with that nation which could bring peace to the region.3

Some of the researchers also think that, Pakistan is also fearing Taliban because they think
that Taliban may prove to be a problem to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Projects.
Pakistan in its foreign policy clearly supports a dialogue between the Taliban government
and the Afghan government so that peace could be restored. And Pakistan’s foreign policy
also calls for a dialogue which could stop Taliban from doing cross-border attacks. 4Violence
in Afghanistan would also give India a chance to exploit the situation in Afghanistan. So, the
issue of Afghanistan is one of the biggest fears for Pakistan because of which they can not
implement their foreign policy autonomously.

As everyone is aware that China is becoming the best friend of Pakistan. The two neighbours
have now made strong friendship with each other. The China Pakistan Economic corridor is
a big example of friendship of both the countries. On the other hand, China is emerging as a
superpower which is appearing as a threat for USA. So, the relations between the two big

3
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistan-fears-afghan-peace-failure-
could-bring-violence-its-way/2020/03/12/09a20be8-6398-11ea-8a8e-
5c5336b32760_story.html
4
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Belt-and-Road/Pakistan-fears-Afghan-pullback-by-US-
will-stall-Belt-and-Road
and powerful nations of the world have not been friendly. There has been many
interventions and conflicts between the two nations. One example is the trade war, in which
United Stated imposed a complete ban upon the Chinese goods and in response China also
replied back by imposing a ban on United States goods. These clashes between the two
nations show us the real relationship between them. Pakistan being the neighbour of China
has good relations with them while due to the important geo strategic location of Pakistan,
United States also gives good importance to Pakistan.

Pakistan depends upon United States for a huge number of aids. Which are then used for
economical and military perspectives. United States also considers Pakistan important due
to the Afghanistan issue as Pakistan has an important role to plat in solving that issue. So,
Pakistan also requires good relations with United States so that they would be able to
provide Pakistan with economic and military aid. United States then also has an important
part in bailing out Pakistan’s economy through IMF. Additionally, Pakistan wants USA to
solve the Afghanistan issue so that peace could be brought to the region. These reasons
force Pakistan to make good relations with USA. Then secondly, China holds great
importance in Pakistan. China has invested huge amounts of money in Pakistan. Which has
resulted in different kind projects. Pakistan holds great amount of debt to Pakistan. So, the
fight between the two giants holds Pakistan in a delirium.

If Pakistan goes toward China then there is a chance that United States would not like this
and maybe United States would stop their aid to Pakistan which would really cause issues
for Pakistan. And if Pakistan goes towards USA then there is a chance that China may not
like it and in reply, they could stop the aid that is being given to them. This would also close
the projects which are going for completion right now.

Pakistan in trades point of view is interested in investing in the central Asian states like
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan etc. These countries are land locked and do depend upon Pakistan
for accessing the sea. Trade between Pakistan and the central Asian States have reached a
new high since the formation of Central Asia regional Economic Cooperation. Then, Pakistan
is looking forward to increasing its cordial relations with Russia. Russia itself is much
interested in investing in Pakistan and similarly Pakistan is also interested in establishing
good trade ties with Russia. This prospect of making trades between the two lead to the
formation of an economic commission which would enhance the ties between the two
states5.

Pakistan then also has interest in creating good relations with the European Union.
European Union is Pakistan’s second most important trade partner.6 So, the trade with EU is
of great importance. Recent news of reconsidering of Pakistan’s GSP status in European
Union was the news which did cause must damage to Pakistan. This would cause problems
for Pakistan in trade with the European Union. So, Pakistan has agreed to the terms of the
resolution so that its trade with European Union is not affected.

Fear and Interests exist in every nation’s foreign policy. These factors play an important role
in constituting the foreign policy of a nation. No country is fully autonomous and
independent in choosing it’s foreign policy. So, we public by understanding the fears and
interests in foreign policy would be able to understand the foreign policy of a country.

5
https://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/pakistans-strategic-and-foreign-policy-
objectives/
6
https://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/countries-and-regions/countries/pakistan/