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The vision of a 'naya' (new) Pakistan enunciated by new Prime Minister Imran Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, faces seemingly insurmountable challenges. The new government has inherited poor relations with India, continuing conflict along the Af-Pak border, intractable internal security challenges, a failing economy with huge external debt, and a steady souring of relations with the USA. It also faces the possibility of cooling relations with China.
By accommodating and promoting the geostrategic interests of China and the United States in Southern Asia over several decades, Pakistan made itselfvirtually indispensable to both. However, the Trump administration is unwilling to continually accept the Pakistan Army's doublespeak. The Pakistan Army has been fighting Jihadi extremists, who are an internal security threat - such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) - while simultaneously aiding and abetting those who fight US and Afghan forces such as the Haqqani Network. The US has drastically curtailed military aid. Additionally, China has entangled the country in a web of debt accompanying the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China intends to make CPEC the flagship project of its ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), conducted to facilitate the expansion of its sphere of influence in keeping with President Xi Jinping's Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.
The China-Pakistan relationship, continuously called an "all-weather friendship," has been variously described as "higher than the mountains, deeper than the oceans, stronger than steel, and sweeter than honey." China has blatantly provided nuclear warhead technology and ballistic missiles to Pakistan. The two countries have also leveraged their close relationship to jointly manufacture military hardware, including fighter aircraft and main battle tanks. Pakistan's support has been a major factor in China's quest to strategically encircle India. The relations between the two have deepened further as the CPEC has begun to...