The Chabahar port was in fact conceived as an accommodation facility for US Navy ships to create a strategic balance with the Soviet Union and its close ally, India in Southwest Asia. Now India is a major partner in the development of the port. On the other hand, the port at Gwadar, which was once offered to the US, is now being developed by the Chinese. A recent statement in May this year by Mehdi Honerdoost, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, made things more interesting by indicating that the Chabahar port agreement between, India and Afghanistan is “not finished” and “not limited” to these three countries. He has revealed that the offer to built Chabahar port had first been extended to Pakistan and China, but neither had expressed interest.
Vatanka has made a great effort to compile the history between Pakistan as only a few structured accounts are available on the subject. Bilateral relations between Pakistan have multiple dimensions, which are not only confined to regional and global geostrategic, economic and political realms, but also linked with ideological spectrum making the two countries important players in the Middle Eastern power play. The book addresses most of these aspects. Though it has been written from an American perspective, it is equally useful and valuable for the Iranian and Pakistani contexts.
