Unlikely that Pakistan will escape its vicious cycle

This is from The Intersection column that appears every other Monday in Mint. Pakistan has stepped up to play a useful role in mediating between the United States and Iran in attempting to bring the latest West Asian war to an end. It should not surprise us that the Pakistani establishment, which has a culture of geopolitical risk-taking, has turned adversity into an opportunity. Not only does the continuation of the war mean economic disaster, there is a real chance that Pakistani armed forces can be summoned into a war which they do not really want to fight in. Saudi Arabia has already invoked the mutual defence pact to station 13000 troops and a squadron of combat aircraft on its soil. If these forces are deployed in combat, Iran could decide to attack targets in Pakistan, as it has done across the Persian Gulf. That would add one more conflict to the two — with Afghanistan and India — that Pakistan is already engaged in. It’s a bad situation to be in, but Pakistan’s military and…