By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI – The new government in Pakistan, headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is grappling with a fresh crisis on the country’s western front with the tension escalating with its neighbour, Afghanistan, being ruled by the Taliban since 2021. Pakistan has conducted airstrikes across the border while accusing the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) of indulging in terrorist activities in its territory.
Pakistani fighters’ airstrikes inside the Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost earlier this week have killed eight women and children, while seven Pakistani soldiers were killed in a suicide bombing at an Army outpost in North Waziristan district. Besides its allegations against the TTP members, the Pakistan government has accused the outfit’s commanders of sponsoring the terror operations from across the border.
The new government in Islamabad is already struggling with a severe economic stress as well as the public anger on the controversial February 8 general elections. The increasing tension with Afghanistan has set off a new confrontation, while the Taliban have rejected Durand Line as the border between the two countries, leading to deterioration in diplomatic relations.
The TTP and other splinter groups were the prime target of the anti-terrorist operations early on March 18, which Pakistan said were based on intelligence inputs. President Asif Ali Zardari had vowed retaliation for the killing of seven soldiers in North Waziristan. The Taliban strongly condemned the strikes, and as retaliation, attacked Pakistani military posts along the border using heavy weapons.
In a statement, the Taliban described the military action as a reckless violation of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity and warned that such incidents could have very bad consequences. On the other hand, Pakistan has been accusing the Taliban of providing refuge to terrorists launching frequent attacks on its territory. As of now, the fighting along the border has stopped.
The 2,600-km-long Durand Line marking the international land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia has long been a point of contention between the two countries. Passing through the Pashtun-dominated regions, the Line stretches from Afghanistan’s border with China in the north to its border with Iran in the south.
A majority of Pashtuns living along the border, including the Taliban leaders, have refused to endorse the demarcation. Successive Afghan governments have also disputed the Line, claiming Pashtun territories in Pakistan, including the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and parts of the North West Frontier Province. The disagreement over the border has caused tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, despite historically good bilateral ties.
Pakistan played a significant role in mediating the 2020 U.S.-Taliban agreement and supported the Taliban after they regained power in Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban government spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, has denied that foreign armed groups are allowed to operate from Afghan soil. But he conceded that parts of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan were hard to control.
The Durand Line was established in 1893 as the border between British India and the Emirate of Afghanistan. It was named after Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, the Foreign Secretary of the colonial government of India. The line was established to improve diplomatic ties between the British establishment in India and the Afghan Kingdom. Afghanistan has now argued that the agreement was signed under pressure by the then Amir and cannot be considered legal.
Tensions with Pakistan started soon after the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan in 2021, as it firmly rejected the Durand Line as a permanent border, asserting that it divided ethnic Pashtuns. A series of skirmishes between the two forces along the border were reported in the following days.
The tensions further escalated after the TTP called off a ceasefire in November 2022, when talks brokered by the Afghan Taliban broke down.
The Afghan Taliban and the TTP are separate groups with common ideological links. Over the years, Pakistan has blamed the TTP for several attacks inside its territory, killing thousands of people, including the deadly attack on Army Public School in Peshawar in 2014, which killed more than 130 students. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, which border Afghanistan, have been the worst-affected provinces of TTP’s operations.
According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), Pakistan witnessed a 69% increase in attacks in 2023, an 81% rise in resultant deaths, and a 60% surge in the number of injuries. The total violence-related fatalities reached a record six-year high last year, with over 1,500 deaths from 789 terror attacks and counter-terror operations.
While Pakistan has urged the Afghan Taliban to control the TTP, the Taliban have assured that they will not permit anyone to use Afghan soil for attacks against any country. But the increase in attacks since 2021 has created distrust between Pakistan and the Taliban.
On March 16, seven Pakistani soldiers were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden truck into a post in North Waziristan. The next day, while offering Namaz-e-Janaza for the soldiers, President Asif Ali Zardari vowed to respond strongly. Hours later, the Taliban released a statement, alleging that Pakistani planes had bombed the Barmal district of Paktika province and Sepera district in Khost province at 3 A.M. on March 18, resulting in the deaths of civilians.
Pakistan confirmed that the airstrikes hit rebels belonging to TTP’s Hafiz Gul Bahadur group after the outfit claimed responsibility for the March 16 attack. The Pakistani Foreign Office said that the country had conveyed its serious concerns to the Afghanistan government over the presence of terror outfits including TTP inside that country over the past two years. “These terrorists pose a grave threat to Pakistan’s security and have consistently used Afghan territory to launch terror attacks inside Pakistani territory,” the Foreign Office said.
“We have repeatedly urged the Afghan authorities to take concrete and effective action to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used as a staging ground for terrorism against Pakistan. Pakistan has great respect for the people of Afghanistan. However, certain elements among those in power in Afghanistan are actively patronising the TTP and using them as a proxy against Pakistan,” the statement said. It described the TTP as a collective threat to regional peace and security.
This is not the first time that Pakistan has launched airstrikes against Afghanistan. In April 2022, the Pakistani military carried out a similar operation in Khost and Kunar provinces. Pakistan’s latest strikes indicate that its patience for the Taliban’s continued hospitality for the TTP conducting frequent attacks on Pakistan from Afghan territory has finally run out.
On the other hand, the Taliban have warned Pakistan of “very bad consequences” which will be out of Pakistan’s control in case of continued attacks inside its territory. The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a protest letter to the summoned charge d’affaires of Pakistan Embassy, saying the country would not tolerate any kind of invasion of its territory.
The Taliban denied Pakistan’s Special Representative to Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Durrani’s recent charge that Afghanistan was providing shelter to 5,000 to 6,000 TTP militants, but acknowledged the possibility of their presence due to Afghanistan’s rugged terrain. “We reject the presence of any foreign groups in Afghanistan. But Afghanistan shares a very long border area with Pakistan, and there are places with rugged terrain including mountains and forests, and places that might be out of our control,” spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said.
There is a threat of retaliatory attacks on the targets in Pakistan following its air raids in Afghanistan, which will further widen the rift between the two countries, unless the diplomatic channels are activated. According to the political observers in South Asia, Pakistan cannot assume that dialogue will defuse tension, as the country does not have a truce with Afghanistan. The crisis between the two countries may not end as quickly as it started.
