It is hard to have much sympathy with Pakistan’s charismatic politician Imran Khan now that he has been unceremoniously dumped by his erstwhile political allies as the country’s prime minister. As an international cricketer, Mr Khan oozed class. As a politician, he has not only failed to perform at the highest level: he has been an utter liability, certainly so far as his performance on the global stage is concerned.

It is not just that his pronounced sympathy for Islamist militant groups has earned him the nickname “Taliban Khan”. His virulent anti-Americanism has also had a profound impact on Pakistan’s global standing – for the worse. A key factor in Mr Khan’s rise to political stardom has been his readiness to blame the US for all the region’s ills, constantly undermining the American-led effort to bring peace and political stability in neighbouring Afghanistan, and hailing Osama bin Laden, the architect of the September 11 attacks that prompted the military intervention in the first place, as a “martyr”.

Turning his back on Islamabad’s long-standing allies in the West, Mr Khan instead steered his country into the orbit of totalitarian regimes such as China, whose trade deals with Pakistan have imposed unsustainable levels of debt on the country, which now relies on Beijing to provide everything from warplanes to coronavirus vaccines. Mr Khan, though, has been unmoved by China’s blatant attempt to turn Pakistan into a client state as part of its “Belt and Road” initiative, declaring last year, “We value our unassailable friendship and strategic partnership” with Beijing.

More worrying have been Mr Khan’s recent attempts to improve ties with Moscow, which left the then Pakistani premier in the unenviable position of attending a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the very day he launched his invasion of Ukraine. Even in defeat, Mr Khan has not missed an opportunity to blame Washington for his ill-fortune, persisting with the somewhat dubious claim that his removal from office is the result of a US plot.

Mr Khan’s conspiracy theories might reinforce the anti-American sentiments of his more fanatical followers, but the real reason for his downfall is that his coalition colleagues lost confidence in his ability to tackle the key issues facing Pakistan, such as soaring inflation.

If Mr Khan’s demise, therefore, has more to do with his domestic travails than his imbecilic posturing on the world stage, his departure nonetheless provides an opportunity for the West to revive ties with its erstwhile ally.

In a bygone age, much of the Great Game between the world’s major powers for control of this vital strategic region was played out in territory that constitutes modern-day Pakistan and, thanks to Mr Khan’s misguided leadership, Islamabad finds itself in a similar predicament today.

Pakistan’s decision, for example, to abstain at the recent UN General Assembly vote calling on Moscow to withdraw from Ukraine was deeply disappointing, especially given that Islamabad has received tens of billions of dollars in aid in recent years.

So long as Mr Khan remained in power, Pakistan’s alignment with China and Russia was likely to accelerate, if for no better reason than that it upset Washington. But the West now has a chance to steer Pakistan back towards its own sphere of influence, a move that would help to counterbalance the current Indian government’s insistence on remaining on cordial terms with the Kremlin.

Certainly, so far as Pakistan’s long-term prospects of survival are concerned, the US and its allies are far more likely to act as guarantors of Pakistani sovereignty than the likes of China and Russia, whose self-interest overrides all other considerations.

The deepening crisis in Afghanistan is another reason why the West should move quickly to re-establish constructive ties with Islamabad.

With so much attention focused on the Ukraine conflict, the recent increase in hostilities in Afghanistan, which has seen the Taliban launch several attacks against areas of the country still controlled by the National Resistance Front, has largely passed unnoticed. With a new fighting season approaching, though, and the Taliban proving to be utterly imcompetent in terms of their ability to govern, the country is facing the very real prospect of renewed civil war.

Any resumption of hostilities could have implications for the West, whose ability to track the activities of Islamist groups like al-Qaeda and IS has been severely diminished following last summer’s chaotic exit. Restoring a good working relationship with Pakistan’s all-powerful intelligence service, whose knowledge of Islamist terrorist networks is unparalleled, could prove vital to safeguarding our own security interests.

Thus, while Mr Khan’s fall is unlikely to be mourned in many Western capitals, his removal from power nevertheless provides an important opportunity to rebuild relations with Islamabad, one that, by re-aligning the region’s strategic balance, could ultimately benefit Pakistan as much as it does its Western partners.