Pakistan is seeking to transform the diplomatic gains achieved through its mediation in the Iran conflict into broader security cooperation and US investments in the mineral sector, through a $1.2 million lobbying contract in Washington, according to an official document.

The two-year contract was deposited into a publicly available official database and went into effect in May. The contract covers a period that officials and experts consider critical for converting the goodwill Pakistan has earned with the Donald Trump administration into tangible gains in bilateral relations.

However, Islamabad may face a difficult task. Former Pakistani Ambassador to Washington, Maleeha Lodhi, said: 'It is impossible to determine how long this remarkable improvement in relations will last given its history of volatility.'

'And the question also remains: will this improvement continue after Donald Trump's term ends?' she added, as reported by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The contract tasks the 'Irvine Graves Strategy' group, based in the Capitol building, with communicating with the US Congress and the government, and facilitating meetings, including those with officials from the Pentagon and the National Security Council.

Strengthening Presence

This contract is an extension of a short-term agreement concluded between the Pakistani Embassy in Washington and the group in October, but the new arrangement doubles the monthly payment to $50,000.

The Pakistani Foreign Ministry did not respond to AFP's request for comment on the contract.

A US State Department spokesperson said that the two countries 'continue to identify areas of cooperation that benefit our two countries regarding trade and certain security priorities.'

Governments typically use lobbying firms to strengthen their presence within Washington's decision-making circles.

The latest contract signed by Pakistan, which was disclosed under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act, provides a direct look into Islamabad's strategic priorities.

The agreement establishes frameworks for efforts to reactivate defense cooperation mechanisms that existed during the Afghanistan war and to attract investments to the mineral sector, currently dominated by China.

Former US diplomat in Pakistan and current head of the South Asia Program at the Stimson Center, Elizabeth Threlkeld, stated that 'the contract highlights aspects of the relationship that align with the Trump administration's priorities, including critical minerals and counter-terrorism.'

Security Perspective

Elizabeth Threlkeld explained that the text also shows an 'interest in communicating with Congress to broaden the base of support for the partnership.'

It includes a directive to emphasize the 'threats emanating from Afghanistan' and to 'encourage continued US support for Pakistan's counter-terrorism efforts,' at a time when Islamabad is launching strikes on its neighbor in response to violence carried out by militants.

The Afghan Taliban government denies Kabul's involvement in any armed violence in Pakistan.

The relationship between Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir and Trump has bolstered Islamabad's presence in a bilateral relationship long focused on the security dimension.

The US President describes Munir as his 'favorite field commander,' following their acquaintance after a dispute with India that Trump worked to mediate last year.

A source familiar with the matter said that the assistance Pakistan provided in the US-Iranian negotiations, which led to the memorandum of understanding last June, provided an opportunity for this.

A source who requested anonymity emphasized: 'We seek for relations to transcend the personal level and become institutionalized to ensure they continue despite changes in government.'

Cooling

Generally, relations between Islamabad and Washington have experienced a cooling since the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2021, after a 20-year war that formed a large part of the nature of this relationship.

Pakistan has tasked the 'Irvine Graves' group with working to 'resume... appropriate high-level bilateral dialogue mechanisms in the fields of defense and security.'

According to the contract, this could take the form of reactivating the Defense Consultative Group, the forum that supported US-Pakistani cooperation during the Afghanistan war.

Shuja Nawaz, a fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank and author of the book 'The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter American Friendship and a Troubled Neighborhood,' said the Defense Consultative Group 'gradually declined as security assistance provided to Pakistan decreased.'

At the height of this partnership, Pakistan received billions of dollars in US funding, while Washington relied on it to secure military supply lines and cooperate on counter-terrorism.

Setback

However, this relationship suffered a setback in 2011, when US forces found Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, during a raid on a residential compound in Pakistan.

Nawaz said: 'Today, there is no direct US aid worth mentioning.'

A Pakistani security source told AFP that defense relations are ongoing.

The source added: 'Despite the fluctuation in the scope and intensity of cooperation, security cooperation has rarely been interrupted,' emphasizing that intelligence cooperation led last year to the arrest of an Islamic State member suspected of involvement in a deadly attack on Kabul airport in 2021.

Investment and Minerals

A section of the lobbying contract is dedicated to the mineral sector, a global strategic priority for the Trump administration, as it directs the partnership to 'support efforts made to identify opportunities for cooperation.'

Irvine Graves is required to provide recommendations on Pakistan's policies and investment strategies, and to identify potential investors, according to the contract.

This would boost US interest in the mining sector in the vast Balochistan province in southwestern Pakistan, which houses one of the largest unexploited copper reserves in the world, a metal for which demand is growing for the construction of artificial intelligence data centers.

In December, Washington pledged $1.25 billion to the Reko Diq copper and gold mine in Balochistan. However, Balochistan, the least developed province in Pakistan, is witnessing a rising separatist insurgency that has also targeted Chinese mining investments.

Nawaz noted that US-Pakistani relations need to address these challenges to move beyond reliance on the goodwill that may be fleeting between the countries' leaders.

He added: 'Pakistan must reform its internal situation to strengthen its economy and make it a more attractive destination for foreign investments. Then, US interest in it will increase.'