On the brink of a potentially catastrophic escalation between the United States and Iran, with the wider Middle East and Gulf sheikhdoms already absorbing the shockwaves, Pakistan has emerged as one of the few actors still trusted by both sides.
While more established regional powers have competed for influence and visibility, Islamabad has been discreet, disciplined and arguably effective.
By most accounts, much of this is down to the leadership style of Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir, who was famously described by US President Donald Trump as his “favourite field marshal”.
While not without critics, the soldier-cum-diplomat has been portrayed as a pragmatic operator whose diplomatic instincts tend toward the transactional.
This disposition would naturally resonate with Trump’s own style of dealmaking. Munir’s endgame, still open to interpretation given that he has yet to grant a public interview, appears aimed at restoring Pakistan to the front ranks of regional diplomacy and giving Islamabad a greater voice in the West Asian geopolitical landscape.
Pakistan’s trajectory has confounded earlier expectations that its relevance would fade once the United States withdrew from Afghanistan.
A more volatile regional order, fraught with Gulf rivalries, realignments and US-Iran friction, has created space for Pakistan to reassert itself.
As Pakistan’s former minister for foreign affairs, Khurram Dastgir Khan, notes,
“Relevance is not a permanent condition. It comes from being useful at the right moment. Pakistan has found itself in a position where several competing powers need a channel, and Islamabad is one of the few capitals able to provide it”.
Due to its geography, military credibility, intelligence reach and long-standing channels with both Washington and Tehran, Islamabad is able to engage competing actors without being fully drawn into any single camp.
“Because it is not seen as rigidly ideological or permanently aligned, Pakistan has become an acceptable intermediary,” Laurie Watkins, a US public policy expert and former Pentagon official, tells TRT World.
“At a time when most regional actors are trapped by alliances or ideology, Pakistan’s leverage comes from its ability to speak credibly to both sides of the divide.”
Munir’s brand of diplomacy between Washington and Tehran favours discretion and backchannel influence over performative PR stunts. Where other regional players have sought credit in real time, Islamabad has largely stayed out of the spotlight.
Credibility was built slowly through consistency, predictability and the ability to speak to all sides.
According to retired Pakistani military official, Lieutenant General Muhammad Saeed, “The real measure of diplomacy is not visibility but results. Field Marshal Munir’s approach was all about persistence, maintaining dialogue through difficult moments and ensuring that communication never completely broke down between the two sides”.
That standing was cemented by the brief but consequential military confrontation with India in 2025, triggered by the Pahalgam attack in Kashmir.
The four-day conflict ended in a US-brokered ceasefire, but not before Pakistan claimed significant aerial and strategic losses on the Indian side.
Munir, widely credited with leading the campaign, was subsequently promoted to field marshal and named Pakistan’s first Chief of Defence Forces.
The war handed him a form of hard-power credibility that diplomatic outreach alone could not have generated and recalibrated how both allies and rivals assessed Pakistan’s military weight.
The Saudi dimension added another layer to this repositioning.
In September 2025, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, committing both countries to treat any act of aggression against one as an act against both, a pact Munir was widely credited with engineering.
