The Middle East in Flux: How Should Pakistan Respond?

Abstract

The Middle East has been in a flux ever since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Things deteriorated further in the wake of the “Arab Spring.” Both of these developments were hoped to usher in an era of democratic openness in the Middle East. They have, however, brought in their wake only political instability and war, though they did succeed in toppling some deeply entrenched dictatorships. The fallout of the crisis in the Middle East has spawned several policy challenge for Pakistan vis-àvis its relations with the Middle East: growing threat of sectarianism, violent extremism and terror, domestic polarization and threats to its economic development. Tackling these challenges necessitates the country revisits it’s foreign as well as domestic policies