The Baloch make up approximately three percent of Iran’s population, or 2.7 million inhabitants, compared to 8 million in Pakistan. Throughout the twentieth century the transborder Baloch population has maintained a strong sense of ethnic identity despite being divided between the two nations. The Iranian government in particular has invested in Balochistan significantly since 1979 but most of the Sistani-Baloch villages still lack proper facilities, including schools and good roads. Pakistan’s Balochistan province also remains one of the poorest in the country. This paper will examine three major influences that have transformed the Baloch populations in both Iran and Pakistan in recent years: the rise of Salafism, the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and the instability of Pakistan. Further, it will examine how an increase in Baloch separatist activity has drawn Pakistan and Iran closer together recently as they seek new ways to confront such groups as the Jondallah, or People’s Resistance of Iran, and other Baloch separatist movements operating in Pakistan. With Pakistan increasingly destabilized due in part to an uncertain domestic political dynamic, both Iranian and Pakistani Baloch have leveraged the volatile environment to call for greater autonomy and, in some cases, independence. As a result, Tehran and Islamabad have grown increasingly uneasy with the current situation and are seeking new ways to collaborate and cooperate as demonstrated by the recent conclusion of a bilateral preferential trade agreement and proposals for a bilateral security pact. Indeed, this opposes certain thinking about the Shi’a-Sunni regional divide. Moreover, strategic national interest trumps this historical division between the two nations and demonstrates the pragmatic foreign policies of both Iran and Pakistan. As the U.S. military withdraws from Afghanistan, the national security strategies of Iran and Pakistan will depend on close collaboration to mitigate any negative spillover effects following a U.S. departure.