How could Pakistan become a major power, and counter the influence of India even more so than OTL? What kind of PoD would be needed
First of all Pakistan needs a strong nation backing it, preferably the USA and Britain aswell.
In our timeline there have ofcourse been a long series of wars between India and Pakistan with Pakistan generally not fairing tooo well although not crushed outright. Now if you have Pakistan crushing Indian forces in 1947 and in following wars you have a strong Pakistan due to the moral of the people. Furthermore due to these successes there is no desire amongst the people of East Pakistan to secede. Now with these boosts we can hopefully see Pakistan modernize and become secular ( along the lines of OTL Turkey ).
Also, an interesting twist, when the USSR invades Afghanistan the USA back the Mujhadeen and Pakistan fights the USSR in outright combat... that would be interesting. After the utter success of Pakistan defeating the Soviets and with Afghanistan safely under Pakistans wing ( Pakistan beggining to make its own sphere of influence ) Pakistan is truly considered a Great power with its people proudly united with its primary allies being the USA, Britain, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
In the aftermath of the Soviet Union collapsing Pakistan quickly dominates central asia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan quickly come under Pakistans influence, dependant on sea access via Pakistan and cheap arms sales and military training. In the modern day Pakistan makes use of its spare cash investing in east African nations gradually swelling its sphere and funding separatist movements in India which are quickly gaining followers with much of Northern and Eastern India already out of government grip. There is also an intriguing relationship being forged between Pakistan and Indonesia.
Abit of a wank, but thats how I imagine Pakistan rising to being a great power.
A war against Pakistan might actually be a good thing for the USSR. The Afghan war was as damaging as it was because it was a quagmire, Soviet soldiers went in, and body-bags came out, with no convincing reason being provided by the Kremlin as to why this was. But, the Soviets could defeat the Pakistanis in a conventional war, and the Soviet people, viewing such a war as being a) in the interests of self-defence, (the Pakistanis were both indirectly and directly fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan), and b) successful, as the Pakistani military really would not be able to withstand a Soviet battering. The USSR could quietly put the whole Afghan counter-insurgency operation of the back-burner and concentrate on beating the Pakistani military into submission.
Then, if Pakistan looks to be on the verge of defeat, the question becomes 'what will India do?'. And if India acts against Pakistan, you have to the wonder what China will do, and then, what about America?
There is always the possibility that a war like this could escalate into something nuclear.
A war against Pakistan might actually be a good thing for the USSR. The Afghan war was as damaging as it was because it was a quagmire, Soviet soldiers went in, and body-bags came out, with no convincing reason being provided by the Kremlin as to why this was. But, the Soviets could defeat the Pakistanis in a conventional war, and the Soviet people, viewing such a war as being a) in the interests of self-defence, (the Pakistanis were both indirectly and directly fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan), and b) successful, as the Pakistani military really would not be able to withstand a Soviet battering. The USSR could quietly put the whole Afghan counter-insurgency operation of the back-burner and concentrate on beating the Pakistani military into submission.
Then, if Pakistan looks to be on the verge of defeat, the question becomes 'what will India do?'. And if India acts against Pakistan, you have to the wonder what China will do, and then, what about America?
There is always the possibility that a war like this could escalate into something nuclear.
Then, if Pakistan looks to be on the verge of defeat, the question becomes 'what will India do?'. And if India acts against Pakistan, you have to the wonder what China will do, and then, what about America?
Pakistani economy did'nt get into trouble until the late 1990's and was in a boom from 2001 to 2006.Aren't they already? They got nukes, they train a whole lot of officer from a wide range of countries and I think they even send troops from time to time. It makes them at least the Brittish of the area.
The problem is that India is the US of the area, just to damn big.
It would help if Pakistan could fix their economy of course.
Pakistani economy did'nt get into trouble until the late 1990's and was in a boom from 2001 to 2006.