Remember When It Was America and Pakistan Versus the Soviets?

Now America's plans for a long-term presence in Afghanistan may be driving Pakistan into Moscow's arms.

Pakistan army chief, Ashfaq Parvez Kiani, is headed to Moscow for talks.

The Pakistani military spokesman has confirmed the "historic" visit will take place on Wednesday. The spokesman said Kiani is expected to meet top Russian military and civilian leaders to discuss possibilities of military-to-military cooperation between the two countries.  

...To be sure, Moscow's priority will be to sit across the table with Kiani, as he is the fountainhead of authority in Pakistan on major foreign and security policy issues. Also, he is an unusual Pakistani general, having run into difficulties with the United States, while pushing for Pakistan's "strategic autonomy" on the geopolitical chessboard.

Indeed, the present moment is pregnant with possibilities. Russia and Pakistan in varying measure - for different reasons though - have come under US pressure. Both appreciate that the US has "lost" the war in Afghanistan, is pulling out of it and would have little choice but to negotiate with the Taliban; both sense a power vacuum could develop in Afghanistan but also feel uneasy that the US is yet keeping strategic ambiguity about its future military presence in the region. 

Like all developments in this region, the Russia-Pakistan entente has to be read in the context of endless subplots involving players stretching all the way from the Caspian Basin to the South China Sea.