Muhammad Saad Zafar

Pakistan and Afghanistan: Allies Turned Enemies

Amid the Israel – US – Iran tensions, clashes are ongoing between Pakistan and Afghanistan along theDurand Line, with Pakistan’s Air Force is targeting potential threats deep inside Afghanistan terrorist.Pakistan’s defense minister has called the current situation as an “Open War”, which is unprecedented in the history of the two countries.Although the conflict has been overshadowed due to ongoing global tensions, but its regional and global implications are not floccinaucinihilipilification and can’t be ignored.

It all started when Pakistan’s new political and army leadership realized that terrorists’ attacks in Pakistan had increased significantly since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 and that the Taliban had been playing in the hands of India.In order to counter this threat, a comprehensive campaign was launched to send back illegal Afghans back their country. As a result, Pakistan deported more than one million Afghans in 2025 alone, later closing its shared border. This campaign was negatively projected and exploited by both India and Afghanistan.

Later on, the Taliban’s highest-level delegation visited the India for the first time since seizing power in Afghanistan in 2021. This was clearly seen by Pakistan as a hostile move, specially after the major Pakistan – India escalation in May 2025.While Taliban delegation was in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanges intense clashes along the Durand Line. That was the major blow in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations.

In the backdrop of these strained relations with India and Afghanistan, Pakistan witnessed a wave of terrorist attacks on both the military and civil population by their militant proxies, such as the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In fact, the highest number of terrorism fatalities were reported in Pakistan in 2025 than in any single year in the last decade.

TTP claims to be an extension of the Afghan Taliban. It is the largest militant organization in Pakistan and is designated by the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.Pakistani jihadists who had once fought alongside Afghan militant forces turned against the Pakistani state after Islamabad decided to support Washington’s counterterrorism efforts.Those militants became the early members of the TTP, and sheltered the Afghan Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other militant groups fleeing Afghanistan.

There still seems to be some confusion about the distinction between the “good” and “bad” Taliban in Pakistan because of their fight against the foreign invasion by the USSR and USA, which were openly supported by Pakistan in the former case but not in the latter.However, It is still not realized by some factions in Pakistan that TTP is well rooted in Afghanistan and that these militant proxies are getting support from both Afghanistan and India.

During the clashes with Afghanistan in October 2025, Turkey and Qatar tried to mediate, but they proved to be short-lived. Afterwards, several massive terrorist and suicide attacks were carried out in Pakistan. It is then Pakistan decided to target the hideouts of terrorists and their handlers, conducting air strikes in February 2026.

On February 26, 2026, Afghanistan’s Taliban launched an attacked along the Durand Line.Pakistan responded heavily and set a now normal of targeting terrorists wherever they maybe in Afghanistan.This attack had completely rattled the leadership of Afghanistan. Pakistan and Afghan border forces clash as UN says war has displaced over 100,000 people in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has again tried to seek mediation through different countries but, Pakistan has told them that they have nothing to discuss at this stage. Probably, the mediation by Qatar and Turkey in October 2025 didn’t go in Pakistan’s favor, as it allowed Taliban and their proxies to gain time to prepare and carryout more terrorist attacks in Pakistan.

Relations with Afghanistan are very important not only in bilateral context but also in the regional and global landscape, as Afghanistan and Pakistan are both part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative that involves a $65 billion flagship highway and energy project known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.However, Pakistan maybe eyeing a regime change in Afghanistan to improve relations and counter the threat of terrorism originating from Afghan soil. Such a change, perhaps, appears unlikely in the current scenario as the opposition of Taliban in Afghanistan remains weak, while internationally,Taliban enjoy the support of Delhi, which has strongly condemned Pakistan’s recent military actions.

Muhammad Saad Zafar
Educationist
saadzafar2010@gmail.com