Pak-Afghan relation comes under stress

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The bonhomie between Taliban led Afghan regime and Pakistan government is coming under stress due to failures in keeping their respective commitments to each other. This has come to surface in a matter of less than a year since the Taliban took the reins of power by force in August 2021.

The latest evidence of chinks in the relationship appeared after Pak military’s air strikes in Pak-Afghan border that killed a large number of Afghan civilians.

Pakistani military air strikes in the border provinces of Kunar and Khost killing over 45 innocent civilians, mainly women and children on April 16 had sparked new controversy of violating Afghan sovereignty.

However, Islamabad claims that its security forces are being targeted from across the border in Afghanistan and it was only taking action against Pakistan Taliban, known as TTP (Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan), and ISIL (ISIS) affiliated fighters, who operate along the porous border. Islamabad claims these groups have carried out numerous attacks inside Pakistan since 2007.

While the Taliban Deputy PM Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar questioned Islamabad’s decision to carry out air strikes inside the Afghan territory, Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoub, Deputy Defence Minister Mullah Fazl and the Chief of Army Staff Maulvi Fasihuddin Fitrat insisted on a stern response.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s spokesman, issued a statement condemning the air raids saying that “it is paving the way for enmity between Afghanistan and Pakistan”. Pakistan, instead blamed Kabul for failing to stop TTP’s activities responsible for a spike in cross-border attacks.

Pakistani military air raids sparked protests, with residents in Afghanistan’s Khost and Kandahar provinces taking to the streets saying those killed in the attacks were civilians. Qadirullah, one of the protesters, told that it was an act in violation to the international law and a war crime, demanding the international community to impose economic sanctions on Pakistan as it violated Afghanistan’s airspace and challenged its territorial integrity.

Former Nangarhar governor, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail also said that Pakistani attacks were a clear invasion of Afghan territory and violation of neighborliness during the holy month of Ramadan. Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) chief Manzoor Pashteen and lawmaker Mohsin Dawar have condemned Pakistani forces’ airstrikes in Afghanistan.

Afghanis are expressing their anguish in social media also. Former Afghan Ambassador to Islamabad Abdul Salam Zaeef in a tweet said, “Any so-called bombing on Afghan soil is an invasion of the country’s territory and we strongly condemn it”.

Abdul Sattar Saadat, former head of Independent Electoral Complaints Commission, also said in a Facebook post, “Pakistani planes violated our airspace and its bombardments also violated UN charter”.

The air strikes came while already /Taliban anger was brewing against Pakistan for laying fencing along the 2,600 km border. All three Pashtun factions are opposed to division of their ethnic community by Pakistan by imposing the British Durand Line as the international border and erecting a security fence to demarcate it.

The Afghan Taliban government wants an open border for Pashtun tribesmen inhabiting the region. Thousands of people usually cross the border daily, including traders, Afghans seeking medical treatment in Pakistan and people visiting relatives.

The porous border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been a stronghold for the TTP for decades. Islamabad claims that the group has carried out umpteen terrorist attacks in Pakistan and the officials in the country and the members of the group found shelter in the neighbouring Afghanistan.

Taliban’s return to power in Kabul was celebrated by Islamabad, hoping that it would rein in TTP and ISIL fighters, however, contrary to its expectations, it experienced more attacks this year than during the same period last year.

Analysts say Pak military, which was providing a safe haven to Taliban leaders in the past, is experiencing increased border operations. Taliban has, however, maintained that it will not allow Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan.

Cross-border operations to take out TTP leaders based in Afghanistan have reportedly been undertaken before and a couple of TTP leaders died in a strike on a militant sanctuary in Kunar province. Recently a Pak Army helicopter was shot at by the Afghans along the Durand Line in Nimroz Province, and the Pak Military fired 56 artillery shells across the border in Kunar and Nuristan Provinces.

Despite Islamabad’s active part in installation of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Kabul has taken Islamabad to UN Security Council for violating its territorial integrity by launching air strikes in Kunar and Khost province. Naseer Ahmad Faiq, the Charge d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations, in a “letter of complaint” to the President of the Security Council stated that the airstrikes by the Pakistani Air Force inside Afghanistan are an “aggression against territorial integrity” of Afghanistan and is a “flagrant breach of international laws”.

The bonhomie between the Taliban and Pakistani regime which was based on unconstitutional means and support for violence to realize their respective strategic and ulterior goals, is now tending towards its natural fate; such alliances never last long. (Islam Khabar)