What is Pakistan?

81% of Pakistan's military hardware now comes from China, enabling a unified defense ecosystem with data linking and electronic warfare integration.

“81% of Pakistan's military hardware now comes from China.”

Iran's regime resilience is evidenced by its delegation arriving in Islamabad with senior leadership and expert negotiating briefs covering the Strait of Hormuz, ballistic missiles, proxy support, and nuclear issues, after 21 hours of talks, despite Israeli and US strikes.

“The fact that the Iranians showed up in Islamabad in Pakistan with significant leadership with the foreign minister, also the speaker of the parliament, but also a team of experts who had briefs on negotiating on a number of different points on the street and on ballistic missiles and on support of proxy actors and on the nuclear issue which proved the most divisive in those 21 hours of shows that this regime is still very much functioning despite all of the Israeli and the American efforts to say that, you know, they've done all this incredible damage. This regime is still very much in place.”

Bremmer explains the post-Iran-war Gulf realignment as a structural bifurcation: UAE anchoring to Israel, while Saudi Arabia gravitates toward Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey, deepening a long-run rift between the two Gulf powers.

“Saudis, that's a very different story. It's Pakistan. It's Egypt. It's Turkey. I think that becomes bigger not smaller after this war is over or as it comes to a pause.”

Pakistan is effectively a nuclear guarantor for Saudi Arabia, meaning the kingdom can access nuclear weapons without developing them itself.

“Pakistan is nuclear, Saudi Arabia is not, but Pakistan would provide them nuclear weapons if they really wanted it.”

Saudi Arabia is shifting its security guarantor preference toward Pakistan, at least as much as toward the United States.

“They're looking to Pakistan as much or maybe even more than the United States as their guaranter of security.”