Purely Realist- Pakistan's Foreign Policy in current times

In order to highlight the foreign policy of Pakistan, it is important to take into account the history of its politics. Pakistan has been an independent country since 1947, however, there has been instability in the government all along its coarse of progress. For half of the time since its inception, Pakistan has been under different forms of military rules with military dictators belonging to different schools of thought. Pakistan has had Islamic conservative dictators like Gen. Zia ul Haq, as well as, the more progressive western leaning Gen. Musharraf. The civilian governments in between these dictatorships could not manage consensus as to what direction Pakistan would head into.




It is important to note that Pakistan has a geo-strategic location with respect to the interests of the major powers of the world. Often Pakistan's foreign policy has been dictated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States beacuse of their ability to economically influence the country. Pakistan's current foreign policy appears to have elements of realism because of the current situation of that geographic region. A surmounting pressure from the United States to crackdown on the extremist gaining hold in Pakistan's territory and the growing abilities of these terrorists to cripple the country simply for supporting the US demands in the region ( of supporting NATO supply to Afghanistan).



The realist ideals in pakistan's foreign policy, are apparent when, Pakistan's stance on the Drone Strikes in the tribal regions targeting militant hideouts, that have a high collateral damage, are analyzed. Pakistan has also been accused of having covertly supported the influential Taliban in Afghanistan. If these allegations are true, it would only suggest that Pakistan is struggling to maintain ties with whoever they can in the international arena to safeguard their interests as the United States is known to have abandoned the region after their interests during the Cold War were diminished. Since Realist ideals suggest that war is inevitable, and nation states work to secure their own survival and safegaurd their own interests, Pakistan's foreign policy appears to reflect just that.



Pakistan's relations with neighboring China and Iran are also reflective of realist tendencies. Despite US opposition to ties with Iran, Pakistan ensures a benefactual relationship with Iran and boasts a lifetime friensdship with China.