WASHINGTON: American scholars are increasingly highlighting Pakistan’s expanded diplomatic role as the Islamabad talks between the United States and Iran stretched into an intensive negotiating session.

After 21 hours of continuous talks, US Vice President JD Vance left Islamabad, announcing that the negotiations had failed to produce an agreement.

However, he clarified that Pakistan had made a strong effort to help the process succeed. He said: “Whatever shortcomings in the negotiations were not because of the Pakistanis, who did an amazing job and really tried to help us and the Iranians bridge the gap and get to a deal.”

The talks—covering Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, frozen assets, economic arrangements and regional security issues—took place alongside expert-level exchanges and written proposals, suggesting a structured and increasingly formal negotiation process.

Michael Kugelman, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the Atlantic Council, has described Pakistan’s position in elevated terms.

“Pakistan’s role has shifted from facilitator and go-between to direct mediator and peace negotiator. For now, at least, Pakistan’s in the driver’s seat in the difficult & delicate effort to guide the US & Iran to an off ramp,” he wrote.

Kugelman also stressed that the current diplomatic effort is far more complex than earlier examples of Pakistani mediation, saying: “Some have cited precedents for Pakistani mediation, e.g., facilitating US-China normalisation, helping w/US-Taliban talks. Let’s be clear: What it’s doing now—trying to end conflict [between] two deeply hostile states who see eye to eye on [very] little—is much more ambitious. A massive lift.”

Elizabeth Threlkeld, South Asia Program Director at the Stimson Centre, has emphasised Pakistan’s geopolitical positioning and balancing act among competing regional powers.

“Pakistan borders Iran … it also has strong ties with Saudi Arabia. Pakistan has rebooted its relationship with Washington over the course of the last year with the second Trump administration.”

“And it also has a strong relationship with China. And so over the course of the conflict and, indeed, even before this conflict began, Pakistan had played a quiet and helpful role in trying to pass messages among all of those sides and particularly the US and Iran.”

She added: “And in this case, it really has managed to walk a very difficult tightrope in bringing these talks together, at a moment when it had a lot on the line in terms of its own liabilities in this conflict, given its exposure.”

Threlkeld also pointed to the diplomatic payoff for Islamabad’s recent engagement with Washington: “Pakistan has very deftly managed to rebuild its relations with President Trump in his second term. And in some ways, that’s already a victory for Pakistan because it succeeded in playing this role.”

Daniel Markey, also a Senior Fellow at the Stimson Centre, highlighted broader shifts in US engagement in South Asia, while reposting Vance’s pictures with Indian and Pakistani leaders. “These photos being almost exactly 1 year apart really do show the rapid upheaval in US South Asia policy,“ he noted.

Taken together, the views of American scholars suggest a notable reassessment of Pakistan’s diplomatic standing.

Kugelman emphasises Pakistan’s elevated role as being “in the driver’s seat”.

Threlkeld highlights its balancing act across rival powers and its history of quiet message-passing diplomacy, while Markey situates the developments within a broader shift in US South Asia policy.

While the negotiations ultimately failed to produce an agreement, US analysts broadly converge on one point: Pakistan is no longer merely hosting or facilitating diplomacy between Washington and Tehran, but is actively shaping one of the most sensitive negotiation processes currently underway.