By Friday evening in Islamabad, preparations for one of the most consequential diplomatic encounters in recent memory were in full swing. Over 10,000 security personnel had been deployed across the Pakistani capital, all entry points secured, and a red alert declared. The reason: on Saturday, April 11, delegations from the United States and Iran — led by US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi — are expected to arrive for face-to-face peace negotiations.
Pakistan brokered the ceasefire that ended five weeks of open warfare between the US-Israel alliance and Iran. Now, as host of the follow-up talks, it finds itself at the diplomatic center of a conflict whose outcome, as Dawn put it, “will very much decide the fate of the Middle East and the rest of the world.”
The setting is historically resonant. As Dawn detailed in a retrospective, Washington’s diplomatic engagement with Pakistan has deep roots, but this moment is unlike any before — a regional power facilitating a negotiation between a global superpower and its longtime adversary, on Pakistani soil.
