THE USA JOURNALS
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY (ISSN- 2693-0803)
VOLUME 06 ISSUE07
18
https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajpslc
PUBLISHED DATE: - 20-07-2024
DOI: -
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume06Issue07-05
PAGE NO.: - 18-20
PAKISTAN ENTERING THE EASTERN AXIS
AND RIVALRY BETWEEN GREAT POWERS
(USA, RUSSIA, AND CHINA) IN ASIA
Javohir Makhmatkulov
Major: International Relations, Junior Student at Webster University in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
INTRODUCTION
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a very crucial
country on the world’s geopolitical stage in the eye
of great countries: the USA, China, and Russia,
despite the fact that it is not a huge world player. It
is located in South Asia sharing borders with Iran
in the west, Afghanistan in the north-west, China in
the north, and India in the east, besides much busy
sea route- the Arabic Sea washes its shores in the
south. All those neighbors are very active in the
world theatre as well as important ones in one way
or other.
To understand Pakistan’s capacity more clearly, we
have to apply to the greatest geopolitical
catastrophe of the previous century--the collapse
of the Soviet Union. One of the main reasons for the
break-out of the biggest country in the world was
its invasion of Afghanistan. First, Soviet troops
brutally cracked down on Afghan opposite groups
and overcame their rivals. Thousands of Afghanis
sought refuge in Pakistan who were soon settled in
the camps near the border . Pakistan decided to
manipulate them in its soft power project to resist
Russians who nearly reached its borders. So, it
created a new army out of Afghan youngsters with
sensitive Islamic ideology yet much more
extremist. They were called Taliban which means
‘Students’ because
they studied for many years and
earned this pseudonym. After the Taliban had been
found ready for warfare, they were re-directed to
Afghanistan to fight the Soviets for their
independence. Ten years of disastrous proxy and
guerrilla fights of Pakistan supported Taliban
exhausted Russian troops and ruined the country’s
economy. De-moralized Red Army was withdrawn
from Afghanistan just before the Soviet Union was
dissolved. It means Pakistan won over Russians in
this proxy war showing its real military and
intelligence proficiency against one of the two
great countries.
The USA-Pakistan relations
mounted during this
period. Because, Washington wanted to strike the
Soviet Union from different ankles and supplied
Pakistan with money, technology, and military
advisors. This was how Washington used
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Abstract
THE USA JOURNALS
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY (ISSN- 2693-0803)
VOLUME 06 ISSUE07
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https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajpslc
Islamabad as leverage to disrupt Russian move in
South Asia. After the Soviet Union collapsed, US-
Pakistan relations slowed down as Pakistan’s
importance decreased although the White House
re-established alliance due to 9/11 in 2001 . It is
still a key role for the US that the balance of power
in the world remained the same that the Russian
Federation has inherited Soviet policy. For
example, after Russian tensions with NATO backed
Ukraine had escalated in late 2021, the US and the
EU imposed new sanctions on Russia. However,
Moscow has close allies in Asia to help its economy
breathe such as Iran, Central Asian republics, and
China. Bounding with nearly all the above is the
main significance of Islamabad.
To say, Pakista
n has a long border with America’s
harshest enemy-Iran. White House might one day
need a reliable bridgehead like as efficient as
Islamabad to raid Tehran. Besides, it is a perfect
corridor for the USA to access Central Asia going
around its main rivals Iran, China, and Russia.
Washington might want to pull out these countries
from Russian influence using its close Asian ally
and its mutual religious interest as well as deep
historical and cultural roots. Besides, Pakistan is
initiating pipelines to Turkmenistan and railroads
to Uzbekistan through Afghanistan to boost its
interest in the region. Last but not least, Pakistan
has a common border with a newly emerged
power- China. Besides blocking it in the sea, the
White House may impose strategic pressure on
China by land relying on Pakistan in case of future
conflict
China-Pakistani relations
have been developing
for more than six decades as the two emerged in
the world theatre nearly at the same time.
Islamabad is vitally important to the new Asian
giant
–
P
eople’s Republic of China which has
recently been committing maximalist foreign
policy claiming its neighbors’ territories in both
mainland and in the sea. America manipulated this
situation and formed an alliance in the Pacific
Ocean against the Chinese in the sea. Despite its
firm movements in the Ocean, China also decided
to build trade routes called the ‘Belt and Road’
initiative through the land on the basis of the
ancient Great Silk Road constructing motorways
and railways from Beijing to as far as Berlin to
avoid the USA interference or pressure in the sea .
This mega-project would not only benefit the
Chinese economy and flourish Asian countries but
also enable China to put its influence on the whole
continent which the White House could not stand.
The project has mainly three routes outside China:
The Russian route to Europe, the Central Asian
route to Middle East and Europe as well as
Pakistani route to the Indian Ocean. The latter has
special economic and strategic functions:
• This is the only r
oute out of Russian territory or
Russian zone of influence.
• The route enables China to go round its regional
enemy
–India’s marine territory in the Indian
Ocean.
• The route offers the traders a ‘short
-
cut’ to China,
Korea, or Japan through Pakistan without crossing
the Indian economic zone which decreases the
significance of Indian transit and would be a
sensitive strike to its economy.
Besides its logistic key role, Pakistan could be a
great strategic partner for China against India with
whom both of them having territorial and
ideological conflicts. At last, because of Chinese
repression of the Muslim majority Sinzyian
(Uyghur) province, Beijing worries that all Islamic
countries may someday interfere with its internal
affairs and unite against it. Pakistan would be the
most dangerous of them with more than 250
million population, recent big scale war experience
as well as nuclear power. Moreover, Islamabad is
closer to China’s East Turkistan rather than China
itself that Pakistan may initiate proxy wars like it
did in Afghanistan and would be supported by
other Muslim nations or the USA. Thus, China
always tries to keep a warm relationship with
Pakistan and other Muslim nations.
Soviet (Russian) and Pakistani relations
fluctuated but generally, they were rivals during
the Cold War committing proxy war against each
other in Afghanistan. Russians preferred India to
Pakistan so they backed New Delhi on the world
stage and always vetoed against Islamabad’s
interests. Moscow supported India between India
and Pakistan war over Kashmir and Islamabad had
a humiliating defeat in 1971. However, Pakistan
THE USA JOURNALS
THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE LAW AND CRIMINOLOGY (ISSN- 2693-0803)
VOLUME 06 ISSUE07
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https://www.theamericanjournals.com/index.php/tajpslc
revenged the Soviets in Afghanistan ten years later
that Soviets had to withdraw from there. After
USSR collapsed, they achieved some warm
relations and economic cooperation in the field of
energy. For example, Russia promised that it would
invest $14 billion in Pakistan’s energy sector in
2019, including the construction of a US$ 2.5 billion
pipeline in Pakistan in 2021.
In fact, Russian interest to Pakistan demonstrates
that Moscow is moving towards the East as its
relations are soaring with the West. To exemplify,
Russia as had been expected by many launched an
invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Of
course, the West responded to Russian offenses
with their sanctions and boycotts. Moscow will
surely rely on Asian states and Pakistan is no
exception. Even Pakistan’s Prime Minster Imran
Khan paid a visit to Moscow amidst the Russian
invasion of Ukraine and stated: “What a time I have
come! So much excitemen
t”. Although experts say
this is a sign of Pakistan’s position in favor of Russia
and a ‘huge diplomatic disaster’, Pakistani officials
referred that the meeting was timed sometime
earlier and had nothing to do with the Russian-
Ukrainian war. Khan and Putin discussed bilateral
cooperation and development in South Asia as well
as exchanged their views about Afghanistan .
However, this ‘business trip’ shows that Pakistan is
turning to Russia this time when the world is
dividing into two poles again: The USA-West and
Russia-China, and an eastern axis is about to be
formed among Russia, China, and Pakistan in the
immediate future.
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