{"id":48428,"date":"2026-04-12T09:11:28","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:11:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48428"},"modified":"2026-04-12T09:11:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T09:11:28","slug":"pakistan-opened-door-to-dialogue-islamabad-becoming-a-direct-mediator-say-us-scholars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=48428","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Pakistan opened door to dialogue\u2019: Islamabad becoming a direct mediator, say US scholars"},"content":{"rendered":"


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WASHINGTON: American scholars are increasingly highlighting Pakistan\u2019s expanded diplomatic role as the Islamabad talks between the United States and Iran stretched into an intensive negotiating session.<\/p>\n

After 21 hours of continuous talks, US Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad, announcing <\/a>that the negotiations had failed to produce an agreement.<\/p>\n

However, he clarified that Pakistan had made a strong effort to help the process succeed. He said: \u201cWhatever shortcomings in the negotiations were not because of the Pakistanis, who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The talks\u2014covering Iran\u2019s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, frozen assets, economic arrangements and regional security issues\u2014took place alongside expert-level exchanges and written proposals, suggesting a structured and increasingly formal negotiation process.<\/p>\n

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As BBC\u2019s<\/em> Washington correspondent, Ione Wells noted, at a moment when World War III loomed, Pakistan turned scepticism into dialogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must say Pakistan did it,\u201d said Wells while recording her comments outside the White House. Noting that \u201cbringing Iran and the US to talks was once called impossible,\u201d she said: \u201cPropaganda said delegations would never reach Pakistan. Saboteurs tried to spread doubt, but Pakistan delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that \u201cAt a time when the world feared a wider war, Pakistan opened the door for dialogue. No matter what the final result is, this is already a huge win for Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, US-based analysts are closely examining Pakistan\u2019s unusually active mediating role.<\/p>\n

Michael Kugelman, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, has described Pakistan\u2019s position in elevated terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cPakistan\u2019s role has shifted from facilitator and go-between to direct mediator and peace negotiator. For now, at least, Pakistan\u2019s in the driver\u2019s seat in the difficult & delicate effort to guide the US & Iran to an off ramp,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

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Kugelman also stressed that the current diplomatic effort is far more complex than earlier examples of Pakistani mediation, saying: \u201cSome have cited precedents for Pakistani mediation, e.g., facilitating US-China normalisation, helping w\/US-Taliban talks. Let\u2019s be clear: What it\u2019s doing now\u2014trying to end conflict [between] two deeply hostile states who see eye to eye on [very] little\u2014is much more ambitious. A massive lift.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Elizabeth Threlkeld, South Asia Program Director at the Stimson Centre, has emphasised Pakistan\u2019s geopolitical positioning and balancing act among competing regional powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPakistan borders Iran \u2026 it also has strong ties with Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has rebooted its relationship with Washington over the course of the last year with the second Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it also has a strong relationship with China. And so over the course of the conflict and, indeed, even before this conflict began, Pakistan had played a quiet and helpful role in trying to pass messages among all of those sides and particularly the US and Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cAnd in this case, it really has managed to walk a very difficult tightrope in bringing these talks together, at a moment when it had a lot on the line in terms of its own liabilities in this conflict, given its exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Threlkeld also pointed to the diplomatic payoff for Islamabad\u2019s recent engagement with Washington: \u201cPakistan has very deftly managed to rebuild its relations with President Trump in his second term. And in some ways, that\u2019s already a victory for Pakistan because it succeeded in playing this role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniel Markey, also a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Centre, highlighted broader shifts in US engagement in South Asia, while reposting Vance\u2019s pictures with Indian and Pakistani leaders. \u201cThese photos being almost exactly 1 year apart really do show the rapid upheaval in US South Asia policy,\u201c he noted.<\/p>\n

Taken together, the views of American scholars suggest a notable reassessment of Pakistan\u2019s diplomatic standing.<\/p>\n

Kugelman emphasises Pakistan\u2019s elevated role as being \u201cin the driver\u2019s seat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Threlkeld highlights its balancing act across rival powers and its history of quiet message-passing diplomacy, while Markey situates the developments within a broader shift in US South Asia policy.<\/p>\n

While the negotiations ultimately failed to produce an agreement, US analysts broadly converge on one point: Pakistan is no longer merely hosting or facilitating diplomacy between Washington and Tehran, but is actively shaping one of the most sensitive negotiation processes currently underway.<\/p>\n