Pakistan is quietly redrawing the map of its alliances, and this time, it’s not just about Beijing. From offering the United States access to a billion-dollar deep-water port at Pasni, barely 100 kilometres from China’s Gwadar, to granting Turkey 1,000 acres of land in Karachi for a new industrial hub, Islamabad is signalling a dramatic foreign policy reset. The goal: economic survival, political legitimacy, and renewed leverage in a region defined by shifting powers.

A Quiet Offer with Loud Implications

According to reports, Pakistan has proposed allowing the U.S. to build and operate a “civilian” port at Pasni, valued at over $1.2 billion. Advisers to Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, reportedly presented the idea to Washington following a September 2025 meeting between Munir, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and former U.S. President Donald Trump. The offer was sweetened by promises of access to Pakistan’s vast mineral wealth, including rare earths critical to defence and clean-energy technologies.

Officially, the port would not host any U.S. military assets. Yet strategically, Pasni’s location is too significant to ignore. It lies wedged between Iran’s Chabahar Port, co-developed by India, and China’s Gwadar, potentially placing the U.S. in a unique position between two rival power nodes on the Arabian Sea.

The Return of the Drones?

In parallel, Pakistan has reportedly offered Washington limited access to drone facilities, a move reminiscent of the early 2000s when U.S. drones operated from the Shamsi Airbase for missions in Afghanistan. Those operations ended in 2011 amid public outrage following the Osama bin Laden raid. Yet, with militancy resurging and Pakistan’s economy in crisis, Islamabad seems ready to revive such cooperation, hoping to trade access for investment and diplomatic favour.

For the U.S., the prospect is tempting. A presence in Pasni would restore surveillance capabilities over Afghanistan and Iran, areas it has struggled to monitor since withdrawing from the region in 2021.

Courting Turkey, Balancing China

But Washington isn’t the only partner in Pakistan’s new balancing act. In April 2025, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan 1,000 acres of free land in Karachi Industrial Park to establish an Export Processing Zone (EPZ). The zone will provide tax holidays and direct shipping routes to Central Asia and the Gulf, cutting transport costs by nearly 75 per cent.

The gesture wasn’t purely economic. Turkey had openly supported Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, a brief confrontation with India earlier that year. The Karachi EPZ is being read by analysts as both a diplomatic reward and an attempt to deepen long-term industrial and military collaboration with Ankara.

The Three-Cornered Chessboard

Pakistan’s multi-vector diplomacy now spans three axes:

Security and intelligence with the U.S. through the proposed Pasni port and drone cooperation.

Manufacturing and trade with Turkey, via the Karachi Export Processing Zone.

Infrastructure and connectivity with China, through Gwadar and the Belt and Road Initiative.

But managing these competing partnerships is no simple task. China remains Pakistan’s largest investor, having poured billions into Gwadar and power projects. Beijing will view any U.S. foothold near Gwadar as a direct challenge to its maritime access. Should the Pasni deal progress, China could respond by expanding its military and logistical presence in the region, heightening tensions in the already crowded Arabian Sea.

What It Means for India

For India, the implications are immediate and multifaceted. The Pasni port, a mere 300 kilometres from India’s Chabahar terminal, threatens to alter the strategic balance along the western seaboard. If Washington gains operational leverage there, it would complete a triangle of observation – Chabahar (India-Iran), Gwadar (China-Pakistan), and Pasni (U.S.-Pakistan), with India caught in the middle.

The potential U.S.-Pakistan drone collaboration also raises security concerns. Enhanced surveillance capability near India’s western border could provide Islamabad with new intelligence-sharing advantages. Simultaneously, Turkey’s deepening economic role in Karachi strengthens a partnership that has often aligned against India in international forums, particularly on the Kashmir issue.

A Fragile Balancing Act

Pakistan’s new outreach appears bold, but it is born of desperation. With the IMF scrutinising its every fiscal move and domestic instability rising, Islamabad is monetising its geography, trading access for cash and influence. Yet the contradictions are glaring. It cannot host U.S. investment at Pasni while relying on Chinese funds at Gwadar. It cannot deepen military ties with Turkey while expecting neutrality from Gulf states.

The Strategic Test for India

For New Delhi, Pakistan’s recalibration underscores a shifting regional order. The Arabian Sea is no longer a passive coastline; it is a chessboard of intersecting powers. India must now strengthen maritime surveillance across its western flank, reinforce partnerships with Iran and the Gulf, and continue investing in indigenous defence and intelligence networks.

Pakistan’s manoeuvre may grant it short-term relief, but in the long game of geopolitics, it is foresight, not geography, that decides who wins.

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