Eurasian Front

As Pakistan works to turn the Makkah Defence Alliance into a credible security framework in the Middle East, its other great axis of regional cooperation must not be neglected. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation represents a different, but equally important, strategic space.
The Middle East may presently be the more volatile theatre, demanding immediate security coordination. Eurasia, however, offers Pakistan something broader: stability, connectivity, trade and the possibility of sustained economic growth through engagement with China, Russia, Iran and the Central Asian republics.
Such engagement is non-negotiable. As American imperial power retreats from much of the region and the international order becomes increasingly multipolar, Pakistan cannot afford to remain tied to a narrow set of relationships.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s participation in the SCO summit in Bishkek is therefore important, particularly as Pakistan assumes the chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of State for 2026-27. Discussions with Uzbekistan on trade, connectivity and the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan Railway demonstrate precisely what Pakistan should seek from this forum: practical economic integration alongside strategic cooperation.
The prime minister’s meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is equally significant. Continued diplomatic engagement with Tehran, following recent high-level military and political contacts, is both timely and necessary. Iran remains an indispensable neighbour and an important component of any viable regional architecture.
Pakistan presently faces tense borders with both India and Afghanistan. That makes it even more important that the wider region does not become another arena of confrontation.
The MDA and SCO should therefore not be viewed as competing directions in Pakistani foreign policy. One addresses an increasingly dangerous Middle East; the other anchors Pakistan within the emerging Eurasian order. Islamabad must remain deeply invested in both, ensuring that while its immediate borders remain difficult, the strategic region surrounding them becomes progressively more cooperative, connected and stable.