Meanwhile, Pakistan is also part of a different US-led Quad comprising Afghanistan and Uzbekistan and will continue to leverage US insecurity and the need for continued access to Taliban and Afghanistan. While it will have its iron-clad friendship with Beijing, it will not be an either-or with Washington. Prime Minister Imran Khan is also likely to secure a meeting with Biden finally on his visit to the US. Eventually, we may be looking at the evolution of a new informal alliance structure — CRIPTAQ — comprising China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Afghanistan and Qatar.
Parallelly, only last week, the Biden administration entered into a highly charged territory even for its own allies, especially its transatlantic partners, when it signed a far-reaching security and defence partnership agreement, termed AUKUS, with Australia and the UK. It implied Canberra cancelling the $66-billion nuclear submarine project with Paris. France, one of the most prominent powers in the…