Pakistan-Russia: Can old rivals be strategic partners?

What was considered unimaginable in past may soon become a reality. When Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani lands in Moscow this month it would mark a paradigm shift and give a new dimension to the emerging relationship between the two nuclear-armed Asian nations.

Pakistan’s membership of anti-communist alliances like SEATO/ CENTO, shooting down of American U-2 spy plane over Soviet Union that took off from a Pakistani airbase on May 01, 1960, Moscow’s backing of 1971 Indian Army’s invasion of East Pakistan and Soviet Army’s defeat in US/Pakistan backed Afghan Jihad were stumbling blocks in normalization of Pak-Russia relations.

Gen Kayani’s upcoming visit follows in the heels of Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt’s landmark trip to Moscow last month, first ever by a PAF chief, to attend Russian Air Force’s centenary celebrations. The air chief termed his visit as significant towards ‘greater cooperation with Russia in the field of defence, particularly in air defence.’

Gen Kayani’s Moscow visit is significant as it takes place a few weeks before the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival in Islamabad in early October, first ever by a Russian Head of State, for a regional conference also being attended by leaders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

The Moscow journey takes place in the backdrop of intense US pressure to launch North Waziristan’s anti-Haqqani offensive and incessant US drone attacks that continue to fuel terrorist backlash in major Pakistani cities. Foreign agencies continue to use Afghan soil to support Baloch insurgency and also instigate cross border attacks by Pakistani Taliban in Fata.

Is there a convergence in Pak-Russia geo-strategic/economic interests and goals in this region? Both countries are essential stakeholders in the Afghan endgame and seek a secure road map towards peaceful transition in Afghanistan after US/Nato withdrawal by 2014. More