Ms.

Fozia Tanoli
Assistant Professor
Background
 THE current, hard line approach adopted by
the Afghan government has little or no
chance of success unless a comprehensive
approach, including a political reconciliation
process, is adopted.
 The prospects for a political settlement of
Afghan conflict could be more promising if all
stakeholders understand that military means
could hardly make a big breakthrough.
 The obstacles in establishing a peace process
are numerous such as contradicting terms for
peace talks, insufficiency of political will, the
competing interests of various parties, grave
disagreement among major ethnic groups in
Afghanistan, and unclear policies of the US and
major powers in the region.
 Though these obstacles are major road blocks,
yet achieving a successful but durable peace is
the only option to the war-torn Afghanistan.
 There is a combination of factors, some
internal and other external, which are
responsible for the current security landscape
in Afghanistan.
 A few factors on the internal front include
ineffective governance, fractious and
polarised political system, rampant corruption
at various levels of government institutions,
etc. 
 On the external front, these factors include
competing interests of different
stakeholders, shifting policies, use of
Afghan soil by hostile intelligence agencies
for their proxies, disruption of peace
process, inattention to geopolitical realities,
lack of proper planning and over-reliance
on military power without necessary
attention to the development of
Afghanistan, civilian assistance plans and
political reconciliation process.
 The Afghan Taliban insurgency continues to
haunt the country; the situation is further
worsened after the emergence of the so-called
Islamic State (IS) chapter in Afghanistan.
 The al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups continue
to be present in Afghanistan. Moreover, the
Operation Zarb-i-Azb launched by the Pakistani
Army was an endeavour to destroy miscreants’
operational baseline, in the process the remnants
of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other
militant groups escaped and took refuge in
Khost, Nuristan and Kunar regions of
Afghanistan.
 The clustering of the TTP, al Qaeda, and
militant groups, which have shown allegiance to
the IS such as Jamaat-ul-Ahraar, East
Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), and other
radical organizations in these areas are of the
same mind-set (extremist) aiming to use the
area as a campground for creating instability in
the region. 
  These groups are being used as proxies by
the hostile intelligence agencies, especially
against Pakistan. The deteriorated security
situation in Afghanistan opens a door for
those militant groups that have escaped from
their countries due to army operations.
 Furthermore, the Afghan security situation keeps on
worsening since all sides are simultaneously
attempting to initiate peace talks from a position of
strength.
 For instance, Kabul, Washington and Taliban are
sticking to a zero-sum-game theory to get maximum
out of peace talks.
 The US troops as the major combating force against
Taliban have never de-intensified its military
campaign, although the US has withdrawn major
part of its forces from Afghanistan but still its
residual forces are actively engaged against the
Afghan Taliban.
 Kabul has engaged in an unclear-game in
calling for peace talks on the one hand and
expanding its military campaign on the other
hand.
 The same tactics are employed by Taliban in
terms of increasing the intensity of their
insurgency against the Afghan government
resulting into civilian-military casualties.
Analyzing the Pak-Afghan
conundrum
 Historically clashes amidst Afghanistan and
Pakistan have existed and in the light of Soviet
Afghan war and the 9/11 incident there relations
have not met a steady path.

 Since the inception of Pakistan, territorial conflict

amidst Afghanistan and Pakistan occurred;
where the former claimed that certain areas of
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be under
Afghanistan’s control (Durand Line issue).
 One can regard it as the first strained element
of their relations.
 There relations remained constrained despite
sharing commonalities of language and
ethnicity.
 The international scenario during the Soviet
Afghan war created the need of unity amidst both
entities.
 Where both actively joined hands to counter
Soviet aggression along with the assistance of
the west.
 In order to fulfill their economic and defensive
needs which were developed during its birth
compelled Pakistan to join with the western bloc.
 This alliance however, complicated and hindered
our ties with USSR (now Russia) and the
communist bloc itself. 
 In context of India, this period has allowed
them to strengthen their ties with Russia and
the Central Asian countries and have
fundamentally rooted positive perceptions
about their state.
 The Iron Curtain period has generated
negative views about Pakistan as a state;
within the Central Asian countries the image
projected about Pakistan did not create any
positive results. 
Post 9/11
 However, their relations with Afghanistan constrained
again during the period of 2001.
 After the 9/11 incident, the world viewed Afghanistan
in an entirely different scope and eventually
complicated the relations between Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
 The prime aspect which led to the generation of a
negative image of Afghanistan was rooted in the
factor that they provided sanctuary to Osama Bin
Laden.
 Which ultimately also complicated their position
regionally and internationally. 
 As a response to 9/11 the international dynamics met with a
180 degree shift which also enforced Pakistan to change
their policies towards Afghanistan.
 Once again, Pakistan joined the western bloc with an
entirely new policy to fight against terrorism.

 The major policy shift adopted by Pakistan aided in

generating a much more stable image of Pakistan, and
played a major role to ensure global peace and stability.

 Afghanistan views Pakistan’s efforts in entirely different

manner, this has also created loopholes which allows India
to strengthen ties with Afghanistan.
Blame game between Pakistan and
Afghanistan
 In the contemporary era, the issue of terrorism
has been a key concern of international
community.
 Consequently, the issue of terrorism has
remained central in regards to dealings amidst
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 Despite sharing similar targets of ensuring peace
and stability in the region and air of wariness
prevails amidst them. Afghanistan has blamed
Pakistan multiple times claiming that they have
provided sanctuaries and assistances to terrorists
which are threatening their sovereignty.
 During 2015, Afghanistan blamed Pakistan for a
series of attacks conducted in Kabul which
essentially increased frustrations within their society.
 President Ghani also stated that he does not want
Pakistan to pursue negotiations with Taliban but
completely eradicate their presence from their
territory.
 They have also blamed Pakistan for the 2016
attacks on the government intelligence building and
reiterated once again that Pakistan has been
providing assistances to the terrorist groups which
impedes their sovereignty. 
  threads of mistrust have prevailed amidst them
which negatively impact their relations.
 Eventually these perceptions have resulted in a
generation of nexus amidst India and
Afghanistan. They have largely focused upon
maintaining stronger ties with India in the recent
years.
 India has also claimed that attacks within
Afghanistan over Indian embassies are funded by
Pakistan and endanger the territorial integrity of
the state. 
Afghanistan’s involvement and assistance to
insurgent groups against Pakistan
 According to Pakistan’s perspective; India and
Kabul have been providing assistance to
insurgents in Baluchistan which actively are
responsible for tampering with their internal
security.
 Pakistan’s relation with Afghanistan remained
strained during 2016, where Afghanistan also
rejected a $500 million aid from Pakistan.
 This resultantly marks a major blow in their
relations and also showcased a nexus which was
present between India and Afghanistan, where
they actively seek to isolate Pakistan regionally. 
Afghanistan’s friendly ties with
India
 India has opted for enhanced economic
cooperation’s with Afghanistan, through
which they have invested $300 million in
Afghanistan to establish the Salma Dam
which aims to boost agribusinesses. This
project aims to develop 42 megawatts
electricity to assist the agrarian sector.
India, Afghanistan and Iran have also
initiated Chabahar transit and trade
agreement. 
 After careful analysis many analysts regard this
initiative as a fundamental step which enables
them to bypass Pakistan in regards to their
bilateral relations with India.
 Subsequently since 2015, Afghan-India relations
have intensified further and have also resulted in
defense projects.

 On the other hand, India has also invested up to

$90 million to establish Afghanistan’s new
parliament complex in Kabul.
 The Chabahar Port development project can
be seen as a counter to Gwadar port and the
CPEC initiative amidst China and Pakistan.
 Where India actively attempts to strengthen
their regional presence by establishing
stronger ties with Iran and Afghanistan along
with the Central Asian countries.
 US is also persistent in regards to maintaining their
presence in the region to counter threats.

 Afghanistan’s accession to World Trade Organization in

2015, has also strengthened their internal dynamics where
the levels of their exports have increased from $150 to $570
million since 2013.

 The security concerns have increased in the light of the non-

state actors, however, the regional projects like;
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India Natural Gas
Pipeline (TAPI), Chabahar Port, Turkeministan-Pakistan-500
(TAP 500), Central Asia- South Asia-1000 (CASA 1000)  at
present are in progress.
Pakistan’s efforts for peace and
stability of region
 Security implications have also increased due to the
regional instabilities which prevail.
 In response to which Pakistan has actively engaged
themselves in their own territory to eradicate any
seeds of terrorism and work forward to promote
peace and stability.
 Large chunk of Pakistan’s budget is utilized to
counter security threats.
 The stability of each state of the region is essential to
promote effective bilateral and multilateral ties.
 Thus, a stable Afghanistan ensures regional stability.
 Pakistan has actively attempted to ensure that
their internal borders are secured, and working
towards the elimination of terrorists groups. 
 Operation of Zarb-e-Azb was proceeded to
ensure that Pakistan’s internal security and
defenses are strengthened and strong. 
 US defense secretary-designate General James
Mattis also passed a statement which focused upon
how the terrorist groups are using Pakistan’s territory
for creating instabilities within Afghanistan and
sanctuaries of such groups are actively working
together and have strong links with the militant
networks. 
 He has also emphasized the need to stay engaged
with Pakistan to counter terrorist issues.

 Despite these allegations Pakistan has maintained

that they are no safe havens present in Pakistan. 
conclusion
 The issue of terrorism is a global
phenomenon; both states have been
drastically affected by this form of violence.

 Strong and affective ties need to persist, so

that they can actively engage in the region to
ensure peace and stability.
 Without cooperation amidst the states the
counter towards terrorism becomes difficult
and poses threats.
 Essentially, the blame game only
hinders the progression of bilateral
relations which results in development of
regional tensions.
 One important aspect needs to be
analyzed that certain allegations only
disrupts and hinders the peaceful talk
processes and further generates
mistrust. 
 However, one cannot ignore the regional and
the global attributes which are generating
animosity amidst them which eventually
increases tensions.
 The need to have strong bilateral relations is
essential to generate positive views about
each other.
 One cannot eliminate the fact that Pakistan’s
internal security has been largely affected by
the wars conducted in region, despite that
Pakistan has positively moved forward as an
active agent to counter terrorist movements.
 Regional instabilities threaten Pakistan’s
internal and external peace.
 The operation Zarb-e-Azb signifies the
importance Pakistan places over the
international and regional security, as
well as, their internal securities.
 Providing a lens to showcase their
commitments towards maintaining
international peace and security.
Some key points
 1. Refugees post Soviet invasion
 2. Pak-Afghan Relations during Taliban
government (1996-2000)
 3. US invasion of Afghanistan
 4. Extremism and Terrorism also increased in
Pakistan due to US operation in Afghanistan
 5.Bomb Blast, attacks, casualties
 6.Unfriendly response of Afghan govt towards
Pakistan
 Pakistan’s role for peace and stability post
withdrawal of US from Afghanistan