Towards middle power status

THE period between May 2025 and May 2026 has been unusually consequential for Pakistan. In May 2025, the country surprised observers by demonstrating a high degree of capability and professionalism in an aerial war with a much larger power. More recently, a nation often portrayed as peripheral to global affairs assumed a central diplomatic role by facilitating a ceasefire and enabling direct talks between a superpower and a neighbouring country that had not engaged face to face for nearly five d...