WHAT will be the course of international politics in the decades to come? The president of America drew clear lines in his annual State of the Union address. Mr. Obama said that instability will affect most parts of the Middle East and Afghanistan for decades, affecting Pakistan as well. American strategy vis-a-vis issues of global concerns is to help the concerned countries ensuring that they pull their own weight.

The factors of instability in Middle East are many and numerous. The region is not at peace since 2010, the year when Arab Spring begun and people rose against the authoritarian regimes. A lot has changed but enough has survived the upheaval as well. It is not clear who is behind the whole ‘democratic’ project, but the move, benefiting from social media networks, did create strong ripples in the Middle East shaking some autocratic regimes to their bones and unsettling the foreign policies of others. The resulting power vacuum has to be filled by the regional powers — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Israel.

The situation in Middle East is fluid and, to the most extent, uncertain. While ISIS (Daesh) is preying on Syria and Iraq to enlarge its size, Turkey confronts the challenge of independence posed by Kurdish part of its population. Saudi Arabia worrying growing indifference of its long-term ally, the US, is playing threat of the Arab Peninsula being encircled by Iran-supported regimes. Understandably, it has got aligned with itself the rich monarchies under the banner of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

After years of hibernation Russia has made a dashing comeback in international politics. In its reactionary phase it has absorbed some countries while injected turbulence in others to put a full stop on European Union /NATO enlargement bombing out the opponents of Assad regime in Syria. After the fall of Soviet Union, the era of ideological politics is over. Geopolitical considerations are taking precedent instead.

The US, too, has changed a lot. Its War on Terror is over. Barack Obama says America will not be dragged into the sectarian terrain of Middle East. What are Pakistan’s stakes in Middle East? Like any country of the world, Pakistan is putting its own interest first than the others. Be its allies in the Arab world or the neighbours, its efforts are focused on not only keeping anarchy away from its borders but also clear its own soil off forces allied to parochial interests, at home and abroad. Military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, in FATA is about to complete while National Action Plan (NAP) is in the full swing to remove infrastructure of militancy from across the country.

Pakistan has found itself lucky to be strategically located on the crossroads of Asia. China as a gesture of friendliness has taken up the task of developing trade/energy corridor through Pakistan linking its eastern regions with Gawadar Port through rail and road networks. It has already helped Islamabad secure a permanent seat in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The new found opportunity is certainly going to tap vast energy resources of Central Asia and serving as gateway to this region for India.

Middle East, which Pakistan was welded to during the Cold War era, has emerged as the first major testing ground for Pakistan’s new found strategic vision, whereby it has projected itself as a regional player. Given the complexity of situation, whereby the vacuum of power resulted from Arab Spring has forced regional powers to realign their interests and even form odd partnerships, Pakistan’s best priority seems to rethink, pause and reflect rather than jump straight into the pit.

Despite its long and deep defence ties with Saudi kingdom refused to be part of its war to reinstall a deposed regime in Yemen. The same policy reflects in Islamabad’s approach towards Assad regime, which Riyadh takes as an eyesore. It is noteworthy that only few days before Pakistan participated in the Kingdom’s sponsored ‘North Thunder’, its foreign minister, Adel Al Jubeir, visited Delhi to declare India as the kingdom’s strategic partner.