US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander, General Tommy Frank witnessed the final phase of Coalition Forces Bright Star manoeuvre at Al-Alamein (Egypt) while CENTCOM was assembling for Operation Enduring Freedom against Iraq during January- February 2002. The “Bright Star” was a regular biennial combined military training exercise by the coalition forces after Gulf War -1, where one hundred thousand of all ranks of CENTCOM participated along with other allied countries armed forces. During the informal discussion, a European military diplomat questioned General Tommy Frank, “What role is the US looking at by the European Union Countries during imminent military operations in the Middle East?” The General abruptly replied, “The USA is not envisaging on any specific role. However, participation is welcome.” This echoed arrogance and condescension of the US’s military frame of mind of changed “unipolar world.” Pakistan’s geostrategic location has continued as an asset as well as a liability hinging on a complex web of economic, social, military and political factors. Pakistan is a medium-sized regional power in South Asia, with the seventh-largest conventional military in the world, the sixth-largest population and is the only nuclear state in the Muslim world. Pakistan is sometimes referred to as a “crisis state,” which has been beset with unrelenting challenges, but has largely been resilient and succeeded in navigating through. Yet the evolving nature of the threat spectrum continues to make fresh trappings of recurring tasks at hand. The management of each of the constituent elements of the country’s grand strategy and its national power presents a unique set of opportunities and the potential Achilles heel. The US responded the epoch of 9/11 attack on homeland territory by the invasion of Afghanistan and Operation Enduring Freedom against Iraq. To begin with, the military operations sought to overthrow the Afghan Taliban’s government in Kabul to dismantle Al-Qaeda’s safe havens. Unable to withstand the US conventional forces, the Afghan Taliban and several other militant outfits opted for a strategic retreat in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan. Pakistan has remained at the forefront of the global war on terrorism for decades now; played an instrumental role in uprooting top leadership of Al-Qaeda and reducing safe havens of global terror outfits within its backyard. A strong economy is critical for maintaining strong and effective defiance against increasingly complex security challenges that Pakistan is encountering, especially its aggravating asymmetry in national power elements with India seeking to dominate the South Asian and Indian Ocean. The conventional military threat emanating from India, vying for global and regional power status, continues to pose a serious external challenge. However, Pakistan’s strategic potential has successfully served to deter aggression and, thus, compensated for conventional inferiority. India continues to present China as the primary driver for its military modernisation yet most of its armed forces are poised against Pakistan. During the past decade alone, India has remained the world’s top net importer of conventional arms with a defence budget five to six times to that of Pakistan’s. India has the unique distinction of being the only major weapon importer that has successfully secured multiple contracts for arms sales from Russia and the US simultaneously coupled with imports from Israel, France and South Korea. Amid this shopping spree, India is also engaged in the largest expansion of its strategic weapons programme. India’s Space Program is also on a steady path of unprecedented expansion, credited to India-US strategic partnership. Pakistan’s strategic vision has, at certain points, been blurry and failed to comprehend the long-term corollary of various alliances. Pakistan’s overall compliance to the US during cold war period since the 1950s backfired at many occasions, which gradually made Pakistan oscillate from its up-close positions on different junctures. Mostly, events and individual preferences have been given more consideration over logical and feasible options for forming a coalition. The lack of competent visionaries at the helm of affairs rendered Pakistan paying the ultimate price, first in defying the Soviet invasion and later in the name of the global war on terror. Pakistan’s geographic location pre-requires a stable Afghanistan as an all-time strategic option. The internal turmoil of Kabul continues to be a challenge that the Afghan establishment is struggling to cope with. This has become a perpetual headache for Pakistan, as Afghanistan is still exploited as a haven by the terrorists. Pakistan still hosts several Afghan citizens, something that the Afghan government has never been thankful for and has instead returned this gesture by shaking hands with India. The Afghans need to guarantee that their closeness with India will not be used against Pakistan, which, unfortunately, has not been the case so far. America’s recent disruption with Pakistan has deepened Islamabad’s financial dependence on China Military capability shapes the strategic outlook of a nation. The military capacity differential of the US versus China, owing to the inequality in defence budgets, possessing and maintaining carrier groups and outlays on research and development, do not advocate that China will challenge a confrontation of military forces with the US in the estimative future. The alliances and treaties with global economic and military powers greatly strengthen the military potential of a country. China mainly concentrates on involving in economic conflict; avoiding military confrontation with the US. China’s involvement and presence in Libya and Sudan, before 9/11 and Gulf War 2002-2003, is the case in point. It has built a one-thousand-kilometre pipeline to Port Sudan for export of oil before 9/11 and had planned a railway line between Tripoli to Alexandria (Egypt) to turn North Africa into Chinese economic hub. But all remained on papers as Sudan and Libya both are under turmoil after 9/11 with no hope incalculable future. These are the unfortunate realities and weaknesses of a unipolar world. Pakistan is located in the region where China- Pak- Russian trio connects most of the regional states in all provisos. The likelihoods of reaping the fruits of such a formation can attract other countries to mingle with Pakistan. On the other hand, relevance to the US continues to be the prevailing world order. The re-adjustment of the alliance by Pakistan away from the US will have a significant impact on the economy as well as the international image of the country in the existing unipolar world order. The strategic challenges faced by Pakistan can be subdued if the government pays serious attention to the ever-changing political scenarios of the South-Asian region. While the US appears determined to pursue a regime change in Tehran or at least change the latter’s behaviour in the Middle East, Iran also seems adamant that it won’t budge under the US Administration’s pressure strategy. For Pakistan, neutrality in the US-Iran conflict and simultaneously, an active mediation among the warring nations have historically served Pakistan’s interests well. Pakistan has, time and again, proved that it would always seek to achieve its strategic objectives in a regional conflict situation and would continue to ally with other countries in efforts against terrorism and extremism and for long-lasting peace and respect for international law. Pakistan needs a safety-check on her relations with Iran from time to time. This is a visible flaw in the Pakistani establishment that needs urgent repair. Similar to the case of Afghanistan, Pakistan needs to take the necessary precautionary measures to ensure that Iran does not get involved with those who wish to harm Pakistan. The past mistakes made by Pakistan have already cost the country heavy losses. America’s recent disruption with Pakistan has deepened Islamabad’s financial dependence on China. Beijing is investing the largest outlay in the Belt and Road Initiative which will extend Chinese influence across the Eurasian economies. But the loans the Chinese are extending are likely to saddle Pakistan with a huge debt burden. Some argue that China’s so-called debt-trap diplomacy enables Beijing to dictate the terms of investment projects and exert excessive leverage over its economic partners. Pakistan is particularly exposed because its reliance on Chinese funds to re-energise the country seems to deepen now as the US has backed away. Given the new evolving realignments on the international chessboard, Pakistan has to strike a balance in the core relationship between the US and China to weather fresh geo-economic and geostrategic challenges. The strategic interests always converge on a wider spectrum of bilateral, regional and global issues. Pakistan is a pivotal country and can make a vital difference for success in the pursuit of promotion of peace, security and development in the South- Asian region. Pakistan is a partner in the global war on terror as well as in the efforts to build a peaceful, secure and stable world. Pakistan must be conscious that the realisation of bold national objectives and transforming challenges into opportunities, the country needs to promote peace and help conflict resolution in the region. It must strategies policies to benefit from globalisation; taking advantage of geography while remaining resolute to build on the sustained economic growth. Regional dynamics alone cannot guarantee economic and strategic security. Pakistan overwhelmingly depends on its military for governance or supervision of governance. The all-inclusive security largely depends on a vibrant democracy, countrywide integration, the strength of the federation, and institution-building through rule of law. These objectives require sincere and competent political leadership fostering a strong sense of Pakistani nationalism transcending ethnic, sectarian, provincial and linguistic differences. A strong, inclusive and motivated nation will always overcome and transform the countless internal and external challenges into opportunities for building a prosperous and progressive polity that gets its due share of respect, recognition and influence in the international system. The writer is a retired Pakistan Army Officer