Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan entered a new year in a state of relative calm after tumultuous 30 months, marked by volatile politics, a controversial election, and an economy teetering on the verge of collapse.
As domestic politics stabilises and economy hopes for a turnaround in South Asia’s second-most populous nation, foreign policy and security challenges are likely to emerge as the country’s most pressing concerns this year.
Analysts predict a tough 2025 for Pakistan, as it manages ties with its immediate neighbours, allies and adversaries across the world, as well as with the United States, where Donald Trump is set to return to power later this month.
Most of Pakistan’s foreign policy and security challenges arise due to its neighbourhood, mainly Afghanistan to its west and archrival India on the east.
Violence by armed groups and rebels intensified across Pakistan after the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in 2021. In 2024, armed attacks claimed the lives of nearly 700 law enforcement personnel, making it one of the deadliest years in a country of 240 million people.
The attacks were primarily carried out by the Pakistan Taliban (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, TTP), an armed group that considers the Afghan Taliban its ideological twin. Separate rebel attacks targeted sites related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $62bn megaproject that has brought Islamabad and Beijing closer than ever as political and economic allies.
Christopher Clary, a non-resident fellow at Stimson Center, a US-based nonprofit, and an associate professor of political science at the University at Albany, says Pakistan faces its “most severe” national security challenge “in at least a decade and possibly since the 1990s”.
“Pakistan has no grand strategic choice other than to get its economic house in order and repair its relationships with other great powers and regional neighbours. This likely entails years of work, and it is not clear that Pakistan has years to do that work before the house tumbles in,” Clary told media.
Here’s a lowdown on the countries that will be the focus of Islamabad’s foreign policy this year:
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