I don't want to drag out this pointless discussion much further, so just a few points.
The Pak-China relationship blossomed because:
- China is our biggest neighbor.
- Any fool could have known that, sooner or later, China would become a major player and it's always best to start the relationship early.
- Geographic importance of Pakistan as China's gateway to the Middle East and Islamic world.
- Yes, the India/Russia factor was there, no doubt, but it was one of many considerations.
As for Afghanistan, only the Indians are obsessed with strategic depth. Our interests are primarily due to the Afghan reluctance to accept the Durand Line as an international border and their penchant to cause trouble in Balushistan. India only exploited that Afghan obsession. This indicates India's obsession with Pakistan, rather than the other way round. Same as what happened in Bangladesh.
Finally, about the dime-a-dozen columnists and op-ed writers, most of them are intellectually bankrupt and simply parrot each other. You can take any of their articles and, after shuffling words and phrases around a bit, you will have another article. It's meaningless and predictable babbling just to sell articles. Like the Economist article above.