ISLAMABAD: South Asia Analyst Michael Kugelman on Monday said that there was a strong view in Washington that Pakistan played a genuinely helpful, and possibly essential, role in mediating the US-Iran war.
"There's a strong view here in DC that Pakistan has genuinely played a very helpful, if not an essential, role," Kugelman said
Speaking from Washington on Pakistan TV Digital’s show South Speaks with Saqib, the South Asia Senior Fellow for the Atlantic Council spoke on the US-Iran war’s future, Pakistan’s efforts in mediations, and its global standing, and the conflict with Afghanistan.
For over a week now, both Iran and the US have been exchanging attacks.
Kugelman said that despite the war having flared up again after weeks of relative calm, the view that Pakistan has been helpful still holds. He further said that Pakistan's standing in Washington was already high before it stepped in as a mediator.
"Pakistan's standing in Washington had been improving for quite some time even before Pakistan's mediation role," he said.
He pointed to President Trump's praise for Pakistan's help in capturing an ISKP militant last year.
He noted that Trump's relationship with Pakistan took a positive turn last year when Islamabad arrested senior ISKP commander Mohammad Sharifullah, also known as 'Jafar', near the Afghan border. Washington blamed Sharifullah for the deadly 2021 suicide bombing at Kabul airport that killed 13 US service members
Trump's personal regard for Pakistan's leadership also helped, Kugelman said. "President Trump's genuine admiration for the Field Marshal helped Pakistan's cause," he said.
He said Pakistan's performance in last year's war with India left a mark on Trump too. "He was struck in a positive way with that performance," Kugelman said, pointing to Pakistan downing multiple Indian jets in an air-to-air combat back in May 2025.
The analyst mentioned that international mediators are now needed to bring both sides back to talks. "You need the likes of Pakistan and others, Qatar and Turkey and Egypt, to convince these warring parties," he said.
On the new defense pact with Saudi Arabia, Kugelman said Pakistan may be emerging as a security provider in the Middle East. "One could argue that it does make Pakistan that security provider, in a sense," he said.
He said Pakistan is also growing closer to Türkiye and Egypt on security matters. "That's something Pakistan is much more comfortable about," he said.
On Afghanistan, Kugelman said the Taliban could rein in the TTP, or Fitna al-Khawarij, if it wanted to. "I simply don't think that it would want to do that," he said.
Islamabad's dispute with Afghanistan stems from the Taliban regime's inability or unwillingness to prevent terrorist attacks from Afghan territory against Pakistan.
Kugelman compared the Afghan Taliban's unwillingness to curb TTP to its past refusal to hand over al-Qaeda to the US. "There's a strong track record of the Afghan Taliban not turning on its militant allies," he said.
He said the crisis with Afghanistan was complex and unlikely to end soon. "Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon," he said.
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