Pakistan ISI chief Hamid Faiz is in Kabul to exert pressure on the Taliban as the insurgents come close to announcing the new government, along with maintaining control over the army the war-ravaged country will now have. CNN-News18 reports that the aim of Faiz’s visit is to get the Haqqanis in the running to revamp the Afghan army, and to provide military power to the deadly network.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Pakistan’s leaders boasted about their ties to the insurgent group. Sheikh Rashid, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, said, “We are the custodians of Taliban commanders. We’ve been looking after them for a long time. In Pakistan, they were provided with shelter, education, and a home. We’ve done everything we could for them.” Earlier, in praising the re-establishment of Taliban authority in Afghanistan, Imran Khan stated that the Afghan people had broken the “chains of enslavement.” On a live television show, Neelam Irshad Sheikh, a leader of the ruling PTI, stated, “The Taliban are stating that they are with us and will support us in Kashmir.”
EXCLUSIVE | Taliban Reject ‘Broad Based’ Govt Pressure; Withdraw Security of Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah
It is clear from the visit and earlier statements that Pakistan is making efforts to gain a space in the new power-sharing arrangement of Afghanistan. But why? News18 explains.
Kashmir Stake
According to report in the Times of India, Pakistan-based terrorist organisations Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba have increased attempts to push recruits into Jammu and Kashmir, taking advantage of a shift in international focus on Afghanistan and a buzz over “victories” of Islamist forces. Terror launchpads near the border have reopened, and infiltration has increased, with agencies warning that this could indicate an attempt by Pakistan to exploit Afghanistan’s advancements.
As soon as the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in the third week of August, the leader of Pakistan’s Jaish-e-Mohammed, Maulana Masood Azhar, went to Kandahar to ask for cooperation in fomenting terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, India Today had reported, quoting sources.
Cull India’s Influence in Region Amid China’s Growth
The Taliban’s survival will be heavily reliant on China’s economic and political support. Pakistan is in a major economic crisis and will be unable to assist with Afghan reconstruction. Western governments will be hesitant to grant unconditional development support. In exchange for access to Afghan mineral riches, China, on the other side, can invest significant economic resources. Furthermore, China has made significant investments in Pakistan and Central Asian Republics under the auspices of the BRI. Relations between China and Iran are also improving. Overall, China has economic clout with all of Afghanistan’s neighbours. As a result, China can persuade Afghanistan’s neighbours to work with the Taliban leadership. A scenario like this will also help China solidify its economic position in Asia’s heartland and beyond, the Economic Times reports.
For Iran, the presence of US naval forces in the Gulf and military forces in its continental backyard in Afghanistan has been a cause of anxiety. However, with the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, Tehran now has one fewer headache to deal with. Iran and the Taliban have strained relations, but there have been numerous encounters in recent years. Following the Taliban takeover, Tehran has urged for Afghanistan’s stability and national reconciliation to be restored. Russia is also willing to collaborate with the Taliban. In general, big nations including as Iran, China, and Russia are willing to increase their involvement with the Taliban.
The Taliban, an extremist group, has taken over Afghanistan, and the world community has done little to stop them. As a result, others believe that this triumph may empower numerous extremist groups in Pakistan and other nations to expand their political objectives. There are fears that Pakistan will send Taliban soldiers to escalate the conflict in India’s Kashmir. Furthermore, these deployments jeopardise India’s connection aspirations with Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, the report states.
Undercut Pashtun Influence
In addition to diminishing India’s influence in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s military sees the US withdrawal as an opportunity to undermine surging Pashtun nationalism, according to a report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. The popular nonviolent Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement, which demands accountability for the military’s alleged human rights violations against Pashtun civilians during counterterrorism operations against the Pakistani Taliban, including enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, exemplifies this nationalism.
Rather than addressing the actual complaints of the movement, Pakistani authorities have slapped down on its leaders, accusing them of being enemy agents working with Indian and Afghan intelligence services to denigrate the country’s army, especially through disinformation on social media.
Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group and have traditionally dominated the Afghan state. Pakistani politicians have traditionally regarded any Pashtun-dominated government (such as the Ghani regime or the previous one led by former President Hamid Karzai) as bolstering Pashtun nationalists on its side of the Durand Line.
The Pashtun heartland is divided between the two countries by this British colonial-era line. Afghanistan has long refused to acknowledge the Durand Line as an international border, which the Pakistani military interprets as proof of Kabul’s revisionist intentions. This explains Pakistani generals’ backing for the Islamist Taliban (or, previously, former mujahadeen commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar), who are Pashtun but not ethnic nationalists.
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment