Pakistan's Strategies in Central Asia

Abstract

Pakistan's policy and interactions with Central Asia are significantly shaped by its competition and concerns about India's role. India's ties in the Central Asian region remains an important factor in the formulation of Pakistan's strategies and it has made consistent efforts to counterbalance or neutralise India's influence in the region. However, two factors make it difficult for Central Asian regimes to ignore Pakistan: first, its geo-strategic location; and second, its ties with the extremist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. For Pakistan the Central Asian region presents considerable diplomatic challenge as it has to strike a balance between its support for extremist groups and its efforts to seek closer economic and political relations with existing regimes in the Central Asian Republics. This could further get complicated if fundamentalist Islamic groups enhance their influence in the Pakistani establishment. The effectiveness of Pakistan's balancing diplomacy as well as the political situation in Afghanistan will determine, to a large extent, its inroad into Central Asia in the coming days.