How Indian PM Modi’s efforts to isolate Pakistan ‘backfired’
Al Jazeera argues Modi’s campaign to isolate Pakistan has not worked, as Islamabad has gained ties with China and renewed standing with the US.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The piece says India tried for years to box Pakistan in diplomatically, but the balance has shifted. Pakistan now has stronger ties with China and a more visible role with the Trump White House, while India’s own relationship with Washington has cooled.
India tried to make other countries keep their distance from Pakistan, like telling the whole school to ignore one kid. But that plan did not work very well.
Pakistan found new friends and important connections, especially with China and the United States. That made it harder for India to push it aside.
The story says this also became a battle over who could tell the better story about a fight between the two countries. In that contest, Pakistan looked stronger than India expected.
Analysis
What the article argues
The story frames Narendra Modi’s long-running effort to isolate Pakistan as a strategic failure. It says India tried to convince the world that Pakistan should be treated as a pariah after attacks in Kashmir and repeated cross-border tensions, but that outcome did not hold.
Pakistan’s diplomatic rebound
According to the article, Pakistan has strengthened its position by deepening ties with China and reestablishing a working relationship with the US under Donald Trump. It points to visits by Pakistani leaders to the White House, Trump’s public praise of Pakistan’s leadership, and Pakistan’s role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran as signs that Islamabad is again useful to major powers.
India’s trouble with the narrative
The article says the May 2025 ceasefire between India and Pakistan exposed India’s weaker position in the information and diplomatic fight. Trump claimed repeatedly that he helped broker the ceasefire, while Modi did not publicly echo that line. New Delhi also failed, the article says, to persuade the world that Pakistan was clearly complicit in the Pahalgam attack that preceded the fighting. Analysts quoted in the piece say this allowed Pakistan to win the broader global narrative, even after India carried out strikes inside Pakistani territory. The result, the article argues, is that India’s push to isolate Pakistan has not translated into lasting international pressure, and in some respects has made Pakistan look more relevant, not less.
Key points
- The article says Modi’s long effort to isolate Pakistan has not succeeded.
- Pakistan has grown closer to China and regained access to the US political orbit.
- Trump repeatedly claimed credit for the India-Pakistan ceasefire, which complicated India’s position.
- India did not convince the world that Pakistan was responsible for the trigger attack, according to analysts quoted in the piece.
- The article presents the result as a broader diplomatic and narrative win for Pakistan.
