Pakistan's Rapprochement With Russia After 2014–A Focus On Military Affairs

This thesis aimed to analyze analytically and explain the Pakistan's Rapprochement with Russia after 2014 by focusing on military affairs.We argue that Pakistan-Russia military rapprochement is enhancing the security capabilities of Pakistan which will improve the stability of Pakistan as well as Afghanistan.Afghanistan is the base for the emergence of ISIS in the South Asian region.However,as a close neighbor,Pakistan and Russia could be affected by the increasing activities of the terrorist group.Therefore,to counter such a militant group,Pakistan-Russia military rapprochement is necessary,generally for the region and particularly for the stability of Pakistan and Afghanistan.In order to answer the question that Why the Pakistan-Russia Military Rapprochement accelerated after 2014? We found that the scenario following the announcement of removal of US/NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan and the surfacing of the militants of ISIS in Afghanistan compelled Pakistan and Russia to formulate a counter-strategy to contain the group as it is a threat not only for Pakistan and Russia but,also for the whole region.Islamabad and Moscow announced to constitute an Anti-Terror Military Cooperation Commission to contain ISIS when Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif visited Russia in February 2018.Aim of the military commission is basically focused on containing the ISIS threats posed from Afghanistan to Pakistan and CARs.The constitution of the commission came from the military relationship between Islamabad and Moscow since 2014 when both states signed the Military Defense Cooperation Agreement and Russia lifted arms sale to Pakistan in wake of counter-terrorism.Both states enhanced military to military cooperation and Moscow provided defense technologies to Pakistan to enhance its military capability to counter-terrorism.Militaries of both the countries carried out joint counter-terrorism exercises namely “Druzba”(friendship)in Pakistan and Russia.Pakistan and Russia have a common interest regarding security concerns particularly the issue of terrorism,drug trafficking and nuclear security.Moscow has concerned about the entrance of militants from the Afghan border into CARs and Russia.Moscow acknowledged the sacrifices rendered Pakistan to curtain terrorismand the Russian view is that without the cooperation of Pakistan settlement of Afghan conflict is difficult.Theoretically to analyze the research question Why the Pakistan-Russia Military Rapprochement accelerated after 2014? I selected the classical realism theory of Hans Morgenthau which explained the state behavior that policymakers always keep national interest on top priority while formulating foreign policy.The main factor in Pakistan-Russia rapprochement is security that is the main national interest of Islamabad and Moscow.Stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan as well as Russia.Both Pakistan and Russia feel threatened by the appearance of ISIS militants in Afghanistan and their entrance to Pakistani territory,CARs and Russia from Afghanistan.The research is based on qualitative analysis.The nature of the data is qualitative and secondary data has been analyzed to examine the nature of the relationship between Pakistan and Russia.The data include the latest books,journals,newspapers,reports,and official records.For a balanced analysis,both Pakistan,Russian,and global standard literature has been studied.This thesis has a total of six chapters: Introduction,Historical origins of bilateral relations,ISIS emergence in Afghanistan: threats to Pakistan and Russia,PakistanRussia Cooperation to counter the threat of ISIS,challenges to Pakistan-Russia military reconciliation,conclusion and recommendations.The introduction chapter deals with the overall introduction of the thesis.It explains the research question and main argument,the research objectives,methodology and literature reviews.The historical chapter introduces the overall historical relationship between Pakistan and Russia since 1947 up to the contemporary era.The third chapter deals with the threats that felt both Pakistan and Russia after the emergence of ISIS in Afghanistan.Afghanistan is the fertile land for the strengthening of ISIS because of its situation.The ISIS insurgents may easily move to Pakistan and Russia from Afghanistan.The fourth chapter discusses the Pakistan-Russia Cooperation to counter the threat of ISIS.Both states worked through Joint Working Group to counter-terrorism,signed a defense cooperation agreement and enhanced military to military relationswhich boast the capacity of the Pakistan army to counter-terrorism.They also signed Anti-Terror Military Cooperation Commission to contain ISIS.The fifth chapter contains challenges that Pakistan and Russia faced in their military reconciliation because of trust deficit between them.During the Cold War period,both states remained opposite polls.There are also other factors that are India and USA.Pakistan is the non-NATO ally of USA whereas Russia is a strategic partner of India.Pak-Afghan fragile relations also create hurdles in the relationship.Afghanistan has good relations with India and always held Pakistan responsible for terrorism in Afghanistan.The sixth chapter focused on the conclusion and recommendations.