Dr. Naveed Elahi

By hosting talks between the senior American and Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, Pakistan is at the centre of the stage attempting to salvage a fragile ceasefire from the wreckage of one of this decade’s most consequential wars. It is like writing a new chapter in Pakistan’s diplomatic history.

The choice of venue is itself a story. For decades, the world’s most sensitive negotiations between Washington and Tehran have been quietly hosted in Muscat, Doha, or Geneva, capitals with long-established reputations as discreet intermediaries in the dark arts of back-channel.