Pakistan's First National Security Policy Roadmap and National Defence University

After Malaysia and Indonesia as part of President Erdoğan's Asia tour, the regional and national media closely followed Pakistan's visit with the Turkish delegation after five years. In my previous article, I shared behind-the-scenes of the agreements signed between the two countries beyond unification and my observations in Pakistan right after Erdoğan.

Although Pakistan has occasionally been mentioned in foreign policy, it has withdrawn into its shell at certain times. Still, it has always been a country in the international arena that has been in the spotlight. It seems that Pakistan will be talked about more often from now on regarding its first "National Security Policy 2022-2026.”

The country's National Security Policy 2022-2026 is based on a strategy focusing on strong economy. It prioritises the components by keeping economic security at the center. In the medium and long-term road maps, there have been security threats that the country has largely left behind but has not ignored. The National Security Policy shows that at the point reached so far, both in practice and theory, soft power and military power are constructed together, and detailed technical and civil and military coordination are planned in fine detail. Defense and Territorial Integrity includes National Cohesion, Securing the Economic Future, territorial integrity, space and cyber security, Homeland Security, Foreign Policy in a Changing World, examining the challenges of terrorism, violent extreme nationalisms, extremism, sectarianism, and organised crime. The main sections of this policy are: Human Security, which explores population and migration, health security, climate and water security, food security and gender bias reduction. The main objective is to minimise the threats to Pakistan’s security while they persist and to revitalise the economy by making the region even more secure. I witnessed this firsthand when I attended a week-long International Workshop on Leadership and Stabilisation at the Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis (ISSRA) Islamabad. The question is why a country must make a maiden National Security Policy after 75 years of independence.

The reason for this is not only the suspicion of a security gap in Pakistan caused by the operations conducted by NATO forces led by the US in Afghanistan and the Taliban factions. Secondly, being in the middle of the global power competition is an advantage due to the emergence of more than one economic and military power centre and the changing world order. In addition, the effort to recover economically, threats to territory and territorial integrity, threats to national sovereignty and integrity, and other factors are the reasons for this initiative. The reason for this initiative, which needed to be implemented years later, stems from the accumulation and uncertainty that extends from the Cold War years to the present day.

Pakistan is the third most populous Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member after Indonesia and Bangladesh. It is the only Muslim nuclear power. Its highly disciplined army ranks seventh in the world.

Its location on the world's oil transit corridors and Central Asian natural resources make it more critical. It is also the most important US ally outside NATO.

On the other hand, Pakistan, whose foreign policy is shaped according to the conditions of the Cold War, has some difficulties in adapting to the conditions after the Cold War due to its relations with India, the US, China, Russia and Afghanistan, and the adverse conditions caused by the events of September 11. How external powers such as China, Russia and the US intervene in South Asia deeply affects Indo-Pak relations. China's rapprochement with Pakistan over time responds to India, and in return, the Indian government feels the need to get closer to the US. In addition, the Soviet Union's efforts to reach the warm seas and its relations with India have led to complex relations between China, the US and the Soviet/Russia. Pakistan and Afghanistan are at the center of this network of relations, and this situation negatively affects Indo-Pak ties. Pakistan, which had to develop a strategy due to the fear of becoming isolated in the region, had to build its relationship with the Taliban in the competition between Russia and the US in Afghanistan since the 1980s. This situation dragged the US-Pakistan relations into a process of ups and downs.

Western countries have shaped their international security policies according to South Asian, Middle Eastern and North African countries. Pakistan’s efforts to adapt to this post-Cold War period have caused some crucial developments in domestic and foreign policy to be postponed. After the Cold War, the acceleration of the flow of information, money and people forced countries to make radical changes in their domestic and foreign policies. One of the most critical problems for Pakistan in recent history has been the problem of political legitimacy. Along with security, economic concerns have also come to the fore for these countries. Despite all these factors, it is known that Pakistan had one of the most successful economies in the developing world in the mid-1960s. While it had the highest export growth rate in South Asia, discussions of political instability at that time began to negatively affect the country economically. Finally, during the military operations carried out in Afghanistan, the US declared Pakistan, its non-NATO ally. Which made Pakistan vulnerable to terrorism, which closed the country to the outside world in terms of trade, and exports regressed to harmful levels.

The main element that the country did not give up on its development during this challenging process was its armed forces. Since 1947, the army has emerged as the most critical factor in the country's survival and eliminating threats. It is known that it has more organisational integrity than other institutions and organisations in technical terms. The Pakistan Navy is one of the most decisive naval forces in the region. China organised the first structure of the Pakistan Air Force, which has been effective in the area over time. The acquisition of nuclear power began in the 1970s with China's cooperation and has been brought to the present point. Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, one of the founders of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme, has also played a key role in his country's attainment of nuclear power status. Despite its economic difficulties, the nuclear programme that the government developed has increased the curiosity and interest in Pakistan for the world. In this process, Pakistan has been trying to satisfy the public curiosity about nuclear, especially by emphasising that Pakistan is developing the necessary conventional capabilities without entering into any arms race.

Major General Muhammad Raza Aizad, the Director General of the ISSRA, led an international workshop in Islamabad to support Pakistan's first National Security Policy, which includes both soft and hard power.

The National Defense University, Pakistan, established in 1963, became the army’s warfare school after the 1970s. In the 1980s, at the request of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the 6th President of Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff, it expanded its scope of work and moved to Islamabad.

In the last five years, it has expanded its scope even further, aiming to reach out to international partners through such initiatives.

Frankly, in terms of content and participants, it was a much more diverse and comprehensive study than the international workshop I was invited to as a speaker and participant. The fifth IWLS was held between February 16 and 23. The participants included 64 international participants from the US to Russia, Ukraine to Egypt, and 32 Pakistani participants, including government officials, bureaucrats, diplomats, NGOs presidents, CEOs of large international companies, and journalists.

The panels also discussed the fight against terrorism, and the steps that need to be taken for regional cooperation and stability. Cyber threats and the fight against disinformation were also discussed in detail. In addition to the panel discussions, the workshop held a field practice. For example, Abbottabad, where the Pakistan Military Academy is located and known as the place where Osama Bin Laden was captured, was visited. Diplomacy and soft power policy were handled so well that, in addition to the panels on culture and art, the Pakistan Military Band played the songs of the participants' countries individually. While the US and Russian diplomats danced to the same music, an Egyptian journalist and I from Turkey joined them. The power of diplomacy was felt without any calculation.

We visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidential Palace for the first time. We also met and chatted with President Asif Ali Zardari. The central theme of the messages given within the scope of all these events was political and economic cooperation. Through this workshop, the Pakistani government explained its National Security Policy to the world directly and indirectly in every aspect.