Pakistan, Oct. 24 -- For decades, Pakistan's foreign policy moved in cycles of dependence and retreat. Each era began with alliances built on promises of support and ended with disappointment.

The Cold War tied policy to external patrons, and the post-9/11 period turned cooperation into coercion. Those patterns no longer define the present. The present landscape, thanks to a fundamental revolution in the foreign office, is shifting toward balance and initiative, and the recent visit of Poland's foreign minister has become yet another symbol of that change.

Poland's investment plans in Pakistan's energy sector, valued at more than one hundred million dollars, represent a concrete step into a relationship that has long remained underexplo...