Throughout 2026, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Pakistan's Chief of the Army Staff, has built a unique diplomatic profile, unlike any previous Pakistani army chief.
Munir has become the main link between Washington and Tehran, visiting Iran for the third time in August at the request of President Donald Trump, and is now pushing to ease U.S. sanctions on Iran. On August 7, Pakistan signed a joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, agreeing that an attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. Some have called this a Muslim NATO.
International media now refer to Pakistan as a hinge power with ties to competing blocs. Yet while Munir was traveling to Tehran, Pakistan faced 199 militant attacks at home, and the previous month was the deadliest of the year. Additionally, the economy remains in crisis mode as Pakistan is forced to request financial help from the U.S. and other countries. The situation is clearly unbalanced, and that is unlikely to change.
The security numbers alone challenge the idea of Pakistan as a so-called “regional stabilizer.” Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported 2,786 deaths from militant violence and counter-militancy operations in the first seven months of 2026. July was the worst month, with 606 people killed and eight suicide attacks — the highest in over a decade. The 112 security personnel killed was the highest since January 2023. Deaths in Balochistan jumped from 109 in June to 372 in July, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa saw 154 casualties compared to 75, a 105% increase. Attacks rose another 38% in August. Pakistan military’s own spokesman has counted over 3,100 terrorism incidents since January. It is striking that a country struggling to secure two of its own provinces is presenting itself as a security guarantor in the Gulf.
On August 21, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for a broad dialogue to address Balochistan’s grievances, but Munir quickly rejected talks and labeled Baloch militants as foreign-backed proxies, framing a domestic issue as an ‘external’ plot. The real causes of the insurgency are well-documented and local, including demands for political representation, fair resource sharing, and answers for thousands of missing Baloch persons. Furthermore, a ceasefire with Afghanistan, brokered by Turkey and Qatar, also fell apart. Pakistani airstrikes resumed in February, and a March attack on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul killed over 260 innocent civilians and drew condemnation from the United Nations. It is odd for a country bombing its neighbour to claim the role of regional mediator.
Instead of resolving domestic challenges, the Pakistani state has shown its strength mainly in suppressing its own people. Around 100 people were killed by security forces during protests in Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The Joint Awami Action Committee was labelled a terrorist group for calling for constitutional reform and sham elections took place under curfew and a communications blackout. By April 2026, the amended cybercrime law had led to 187 cases under a single section, and local journalists have been detained or have disappeared as Reporters Without Borders ranks Pakistan 153rd out of 180 countries. Treating dissent as subversion is not an exception in Pakistan—it is the norm.
Major constitutional changes have taken place in recent months, giving the Pakistani military establishment exceptional powers. On August 20, Parliament passed a law expanding Munir’s authority as chief of defence forces, following the 27th amendment, which analysts say moves Pakistan closer to a constitutionally backed military-run state. No political objections have stopped those bills, and Munir is reportedly forcing the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government to break up Pakistan’s four provinces into smaller units, claiming the current system has failed.
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which is currently part of the ruling government coalition, believes this is meant to separate Karachi from Sindh, increase the military’s share of federal funds and substantially reduce provincial funding under the 18th Amendment. There is also speculation about a deal with jailed former PM Imran Khan, whose party’s votes are needed for a two-thirds majority in passing that constitutional reform. After Pakistan's Supreme Court ordered on August 18 that Khan be moved to a private hospital, the government instead used a public one and quickly returned him to solitary confinement. None of these actions solve the everyday problems of ordinary Pakistanis and further weaken the country’s dilapidated political system.
Additionally, Pakistan’s poverty rate rose to 28.9% in 2024-25, up from 18.3% in 2022 and 25.3% in 2024, with inequality also increasing. GDP grew by 3.7% last year, below target and only slightly above population growth. Inflation averaged 6.2% from July to April and jumped to 10.9% in April. More than a third of school-age children in Pakistan are not in school, and the stunting rate is 40%. Net foreign direct investment dropped 34% to U.S.D 1.64 billion in 2025-26. While the IMF program has brought some macroeconomic stability in Pakistan, real development has not followed.
Therefore, the real results of Pakistan’s diplomacy are less impressive than they appear. Pakistan got the U.S. to lower threatened tariffs from 29 to 19%, but only by removing duties on over 4,000 American products, ending its digital services tax, opening its mining sector, and signing a U.S.D 500 million minerals deal, along with crypto letters of intent linked to the American president’s family. These minerals are in Balochistan, where 372 people were killed in one month and where even Chinese investors have struggled to operate. In Europe, the European Commission’s July review of Pakistan’s trade preferences found setbacks instead of progress and put the country’s duty-free access under review.
Munir has gained international attention by claiming Pakistan can help resolve other countries’ conflicts. But at home, every key measure he controls has gotten worse. Poverty is up, insurgency is spreading beyond border provinces, the legislature is being reshaped to fit his office,
Pakistan's former PM Imran Khan, who is currently in jail, is still used as a bargaining chip. Occupied regions of PoJK (Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir) and Gilgit-Baltistan have witnessed sham elections and killings of innocent civilians. Foreign policy cannot replace good governance, and international prestige does not create schools, jobs, electricity, or public support at home. Pakistan’s leaders have forced this narrative on the domestic audience to divert their attention from real issues. But this narrative has a short shelf life, and Pakistan will inevitably face the strategic and domestic repercussions of its policy decisions.
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