akistan is seeking broad-based long-term ties with the United States under President Donald Trump’s administration, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said in a telephonic conversation with a top US official.

A statement issued by the Foreign Office said Dar had received a call from the US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz on March 4 wherein he conveyed President Trump’s appreciation and thanked the Pakistan government for efforts in countering terrorism.

The FO statement came hours after President Trump announced that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria operative who allegedly planned the 2021 suicide bombing next to Kabul airport during the chaotic US military withdrawal had been arrested.

In his first address to Congress since returning to the White House, Trump announced on Tuesday that Pakistan had assisted US agencies in the arrest of “the top terrorist responsible for that atrocity.”

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif thanked Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support” in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan. “We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” he wrote on social media platform X (previously Twitter).

This is a major diplomatic development as far as Pakistan is concerned. In order to further engage with the new US administration, Islamabad needs a re-assessment of its domestic and foreign policies. Such a re-assessment must begin with a realistic re-evaluation of the situation and an acknowledgment of the ground realities. Pakistan’s significance for Washington has declined with the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. India is now the principal South Asian beneficiary of American patronage, including military and technological assistance. In the context of a rising and confident China, Indo-US relations are seeing unprecedented defence cooperation - encompassing arms transfers, intelligence sharing and geostrategic alignment. The anticipated provision of advanced military assets, including F-35 fighter jets, integrated air defence systems and artificial intelligence-driven warfare technologies, signifies a structural shift in the regional balance of power.

Under Trump administration, the bilateral relations will be determined not as strategic patronage but a transactional bargain whereby India is willing to accommodate US policy objectives in the region and beyond. The recalibration of US strategic interests in South Asia, favouring India as a counterweight to China, necessitates an urgent re-assessment of Pakistan’s national security strategy. Islamabad must recognise that its traditional reliance on parity with India is no longer sustainable. This requires a fundamental rethinking of its long-term defence posture.

There is an urgent need to look for new strategic partners; besides Washington and Beijing. Over-reliance on China as a singular strategic benefactor is an increasingly precarious proposition. While the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor remains a cornerstone of Islamabad’s economic aspirations, it has also raised the risks of significant financial entanglement, debt dependency and geo-political constraints. Pakistan’s expectations from Beijing must be tempered with strategic pragmatism.

Great powers are currently focusing on an emerging global disorder triggered by the impending US withdrawal from world leadership, leaving behind a power vacuum, to be filled by a confident China; resurgent Russia; determined Europe; or aspiring India. It appears that no single country on this list can lead the world. As a result the world is likely to be exposed to a variety of threats ranging from civil wars, disintegration of countries and regional conflicts; possibly another world war. In this chaos, Pakistan may find it hard to find many countries willing to align with it. It needs therefore to develop a self-reliant model of defence and security. It must use innovative strategies to modernise border security and counter-insurgency measures to address both internal and external threats in a shifting global context. It must eliminate contraband trade with Iran and Afghanistan and shun patronage of violent organisations for proxy benefits in domestic politics and regional conflicts.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif thanked Trump for “acknowledging and appreciating Pakistan’s role and support” in counter-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan. “We will continue to partner closely with the United States in securing regional peace and stability,” he wrote on social media platform X.

The genesis of Pakistan’s national crises is to be found in the contradictions of its constitution. It can be shown that some of the constitutional provisions related to the rights of the citizens, including mandatory provision of education are impractical. The constitution requires that parliamentary democracy, secured through free and fair elections and exercised by the elected representatives of the people, should be the system of governance. In practice democratic governance and rule of law have struggled to overcome the many challenges. This contradiction leads to a perennial crisis reflected in political instability, institutional dysfunction, public apathy towards the state and economic stagnation. The ultra-constitutionality facilitates elite capture, lack of accountability and chronic inefficiency, rendering the state incapable of capitalising on economic opportunities and stunting national progress. Today, two of the provinces are struggling to contain armed conflict, which is a great hurdle to peace and prospects of economic development.

The state and its institutions have to demonstrate a genuine commitment to democratic consolidation, judicial independence, transparency and institutional reform. Only then can Pakistan transition from a crisis-prone state to a stable and self-reliant actor to embrace global challenges. The 1973 constitution has been mutilated beyond recognition. There is a need to rewrite the constitution. The new constitution must deliver reliability, predictability and continuity in governance at federal as well as local levels. The local governments must be empowered through constitutional protections to ensure continuity, reduce political interference and promote local solutions to everyday governance issues.

Writing a new constitution is not an indication of failure and should not been a source of embarrassment. Several countries have rewritten their constitutions when the old ones became impractical. Famously, the United States wrote a new constitution in 1787 when its Articles of Confederation became impractical. Since Industrial Revolution, France has written 15 constitutions, including five since 1848 when it adopted a republican form of government, reflecting both the need of the hour and a response to national crisis. Kenya wrote a new constitution in 2010, replacing the older document written in 1963. Tunisia, after undergoing it Arab Spring revolution, wrote a new constitution in 2014. When Maoist insurgency ended in Nepal, the country embraced a new constitution in 2015. Portugal (1976), Spain (1978), Poland (1996) and Serbia (2006) are some other examples. If Pakistan is significant different from what it was like in 1973, it needs a new constitution.

Pakistan also needs a new organic model of economic development. It must end its reliance on external powers. This requires a radical reconfiguration of resource generation and redistribution, population management and industrial policy. Pakistan’s tax to GDP ratio is extremely low. Yet, some sectors of the national economy are getting crushed under huge taxes while an outgrown sector of informal and cash economy prospers. Pakistan must reform its tax system to create a more equitable fiscal structure that reduces the burden on underdeveloped sectors while promoting a robust domestic market.

Unchecked population growth is threatening to outstrip available resources, exacerbate unemployment and intensify socio-political instability. Our towns are expanding into cities and our cities are becoming ungovernable. Approximately 30 million Pakistani children – 36 percent of the population aged 5-16 – are growing without modern education. These children will marry in their early lives and go on to expand the pool of the poor and the uneducated. The cumulative effects of the inability of the state of Pakistan to educate these children will haunt the country for another hundred years. Strict control over population growth is necessary. Family planning policies, labour market reforms and educational restructuring are imperative for ensuring a sustainable future. Pakistan can seek international collaboration from institutions such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. However, it must generate its own resources and have a nationalist approach to solve its problems.

In other words, Pakistan needs what, writing in 2012, Daren Acemoglu and James Robinson, called inclusive institutions. In their classic Why Nations Fail, they called for institutions that foster broad participation; protect property rights; ensure equal opportunities; and support innovation and economic growth. Such institutions are pluralistic, accountable and designed to serve the interests of broad sections of society rather than an elite class. Countries fail not because they are unable to succeed but because they refuse to succeed. It is time for Pakistan to shun its dependence on foreign assistance, including from the United States, and usher a radical social change of constitutionalism, institutionalism, transparency and accountability.

The writer is a professor of government at Houston Community College, USA. He recently published his book The Rise of the Semi-Core: China, India, and Pakistan in the World-System. He can be approached at suklashari@gmail.com