India, April 25 -- The concept of the "indispensable ally", a state whose geographic position, military capabilities, or intelligence architecture makes it uniquely valuable to great powers regardless of its formal political alignments, has long been central to understanding Pakistan's foreign policy behaviour. 

Pakistan has cultivated this status with remarkable consistency across radically different international environments, from Cold War bipolarity through the unipolar post-Cold War moment to today's emerging multipolar configuration.

The 2026 Iran war represents the latest and perhaps most consequential test of whether the indispensable ally model remains viable in an era of dramatically elevated great power competition and r...