{"id":557201,"date":"2026-04-01T00:50:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557201\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T00:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T00:50:13","slug":"beware-pakistans-general-bearing-peace-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557201\/","title":{"rendered":"Beware Pakistan\u2019s general bearing peace talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In August 1969, a secret diplomatic cable<\/a> from the United States embassy in Islamabad reported on a conversation between Henry Kissinger, then National Security Advisor to President Richard Nixon, and the head of Pakistan\u2019s air force, Air Marshal Nur Khan. According to the cable, both Kissinger and Nur Khan agreed that China\u2019s then premier Zhou Enlai might be willing to negotiate with the United States, provided that Washington withdrew its military forces from Taiwan.<\/p>\n

The cable gave rise to a flurry of secret diplomacy seeking to broker detente between two Cold War rivals, drawing in the White House and the highest levels of the Pakistani and Chinese governments.<\/p>\n

The thrust of this old cable has a new relevance in the Iran conflict, with Pakistan again seeking to play a mediating role in talks involving America and an adversary. There is talk that US Vice President J.D. Vance might soon travel to Pakistan for a lead role in negotiations. He should be sure to read this history.<\/p>\n

The stakes could hardly be higher. The United States and Israel have prosecuted a military campaign that decapitated Iran\u2019s senior leadership, stymied its nuclear weapons program and degraded its ballistic missile capability. In response, Iran has pushed the global economy to the brink of recession by shuttering the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.<\/p>\n

That Pakistan has once again positioned itself at the centre of global politics demonstrates the country\u2019s ambition to be a consequential actor. The idea that Pakistan can even be considered a viable location for hosting talks between the US and Iran shows its diplomatic convening power should not be underestimated.<\/p>\n

Pakistan knows no way of prosecuting its interests without hedging against the powers it seeks to court.<\/p>\n

Like in the 1960s, a powerful Pakistani military man acts as a driving force. Since assuming the role of Pakistan\u2019s Chief of the Army Staff in November 2022, Asim Munir has consolidated power, sidelining rivals in the military and silencing democratic critics such as former prime minister Imran Khan. Munir serves as the country\u2019s de facto ruler.<\/p>\n

Munir\u2019s status in Pakistan rose<\/a> during the brief, but intense armed conflict<\/a> with India in May 2025, following the Pahalgam terrorist attack. Pakistan\u2019s air force \u2013 operating Chinese-designed J-10C fighters \u2013 shot down a number of Indian fast jets<\/a>, including the French-made Rafales, in what came to be the first deployment of Chinese military equipment in combat<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Beijing seemed pleased with the results. Shortly before the ceasefire was brokered with India, China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Pakistan\u2019s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on 10 May 2025, reportedly saying<\/a> that \u201cChina supports Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty and dignity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Munir soon promoted himself to the five-star rank of Field Marshal, last held by military dictator Ayub Khan (1958\u201369). Munir later created a new, more senior position as Chief of Defence Forces in a move that signalled his status as the most powerful Pakistani leader since Pervez Musharraf (1999\u20132008).<\/p>\n

He shrewdly matched these domestic power plays abroad. With President Donald Trump, Munir has reportedly developed warm rapport<\/a>, nominating the president for a Nobel Peace Prize, endorsing his Gaza peace plan and pitching the development of Pasni seaport<\/a> to American investors (three-and-a-half hours by road from China\u2019s own port at Gwadar). Clearly, as the prospect of hosting talks between the US and Iran demonstrates, Munir has managed to keep Islamabad\u2019s fickle relationship with Tehran intact, despite concluding a mutual defence treaty with Saudi Arabia<\/a> in September last year. (A major achievement, given that Pakistan and Iran exchanged missile strikes<\/a> in January 2024.)<\/p>\n

\"President<\/p>\n

Field Marshal Asim Munir, second right, presented gifts along side Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to US President Donald Trump during an Oval Office meeting in September (Daniel Torok\/Official White House Photo)<\/p>\n

Munir\u2019s dexterous diplomacy belongs to a long history of Pakistani statecraft, which has built the country\u2019s reputation as a wily actor capable of playing great powers off against each other.<\/p>\n

Yet Pakistan has a knack for finding trouble. The military\u2019s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) propped up the Afghan Taliban<\/a> during the years following the 2001 US invasion, all the while insisting to the United States and its allies in NATO and Australia that it was doing the reverse. Pakistan has since declared \u201copen war<\/a>\u201d against the Taliban regime it once supported, this year launching airstrikes on Kabul and Kandahar.<\/p>\n

Pakistan knows no way of prosecuting its interests without hedging against the powers it seeks to court. On 19 March, the United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its annual threat assessment, which stated<\/a>: \u201cPakistan continues to develop increasingly sophisticated missile technology that provides its military the means to develop missile systems with the capability to strike targets beyond South Asia [including] ICBMs that would threaten the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than half a century of Pakistani statecraft has shown that the country\u2019s ability to convene great power rivals is one of its most treasured strategic assets. It is this convening power, alongside the country\u2019s arsenal of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, that is jealously guarded by the generals who run Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The lesson for political leaders in Washington is simple and echoes history \u2013 Pakistan\u2019s offers to convene are often made genuinely. Equally genuine, though, is the willingness of Pakistan\u2019s generals to hold great powers to ransom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In August 1969, a secret diplomatic cable from the United States embassy in Islamabad reported on a conversation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-557201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}