China and Russia will watch this very carefully. They can’t afford a major war in their backyard.
It would affect them, though, shared border or not. Pakistan has long been a China's ally, while Russia maintains a "special relationship" with India, going back all the way to the Soviet era.
Isn't the Chinese alliance relatively recent given that Pakistan was on the US side in the Cold War?
Nope. When Bangladesh got its independence, there was some talk of a Bangladesh / India / USSR vs USA / China / Pakistan war.
