Gwadar-Chahbahar Connectivity Politics: Pakistan's Emerging Grand Strategy in the Middle East and Central Asia

Abstract

The study explores Pakistan’s emerging role in contemporary connectivity politics at the regional and global level. At the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia, Pakistan's Gwadar seaport and Iran's Chahbahar seaport forged a new great game, attributed to economic opportunities, strategic advantages, and political maneuverings. With 300 million tons of cargo capacity, the Gwadar sea port is more viable than Iran’s Chahbahar, which has a limited proposed capacity of 10-12 million tons. Despite these differences, Pakistan's view on Chabahar is proactive, reflecting that Islamabad is pursuing a new version of regional connectivity to increase its political and strategic influence in the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Russia via CARs. Strategically, both of these seaports are potential chokepoints. Within the framework of complex interdependence theory, the study uses qualitative research methodology with secondary data sources. The analysis reveals that Pakistan is pursuing a new version of regional and global connectivity to increase its economic and strategic importance at the regional and international levels. This connectivity approach is a logical extension of China’s ‘string of pearls’. Moreover, the Gwadar-Chahbahar rivalry is India's strategic move to decode Pakistan's grand economic and strategic connectivity strategy, which Islamabad needs policy-level decisions to counter.