Why is Pakistan attacking Afghanistan? Why have the tires hit rock bottom? – First post

They were once considered allies. However, lately they have become enemies. We are talking about Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Taliban-ruled Kabul has registered a strong protest with Islamabad against an airstrike the latter carried out near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border on December 24, warning that Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty was a red line. The air strike led to the deaths of 46 civilians, the Taliban government said, describing the attacks as “barbaric” and “clear aggression.”

The attacks are the latest spike in hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with tensions escalating since the Taliban seized power in 2021.

Air strikes in Paktika province

On December 24
Pakistan is said to have carried out air strikes in the Barmal district of Paktika province in Afghanistan, killing 46 people, including women and children.

Islamabad has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the strikes, but a senior official said so AFP that the attacks took place on “terrorist hideouts” using jets and drones. The unnamed official added that the strike had eliminated at least 20 militants from the region
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

However, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has condemned the attacks, calling it a “cowardly attack” and even vowing retaliation for the attack. The Taliban Defense Ministry said in a statement: “The Islamic Emirate will not allow this cowardly act to go unanswered, but rather considers the defense of its territory and sovereignty as its inalienable right.”

Furthermore, the Afghan Taliban even summoned Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires on Wednesday (December 25) to express their strong condemnation of the attacks. In a statement, the Afghan Foreign Ministry condemned the “aggression by the Pakistani army.” The killing of ordinary citizens by “certain circles” was an attempt to create mistrust in relations between the two countries, it added.

These strikes follow the raids in March. Pakistan subsequently launched airstrikes on several suspected TTP hideouts in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces. The Afghan Taliban responded by firing on Pakistani positions along the border.

Pak-Afghan hostilities are increasing

Tensions between the two neighbors have risen in the recent past, with Islamabad repeatedly accusing the Afghan government of harboring armed groups, particularly the TTP, which it says is carrying out cross-border attacks on Pakistani security forces.

Just last week, TTP fighters claimed responsibility for killing at least 16 Pakistani soldiers in South Waziristan in one of the deadliest recent attacks on security personnel. In a UN Security Council briefing last week, Pakistani diplomat Usman Iqbal Jadoon said: “The TTP is the largest listed terrorist organization operating in Afghanistan with 6,000 fighters. With safe havens close to our border, it poses a direct and daily threat to Pakistan’s security.”

Records show that 2023 was one of the bloodiest years in recent Pakistani history, with more than 650 attacks across the country, killing nearly 1,000 people, mostly by law enforcement agencies and the military. Most of the attacks on security personnel were claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, along with other relatively lesser-known armed groups.

However, the Taliban deny harboring armed groups or allowing their territory to be used for cross-border attacks.

A man stands with his passport and identification cards of his family members at a closed pedestrian crossing at the border crossing in Torkham, Pakistan. File image/Reuters

Cross-border skirmishes between Pakistan and Afghanistan also led to Islamabad shutting down the country
Torkham Border for three days. The closure of the main border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan caused heavy losses to the already declining trade between the two neighboring countries.

In addition, Pakistan has also carried out
mass deportations of Afghan refugees. After expelling some 541,000 Afghan refugees in November 2023, Islamabad announced in June that it would take a similar action, expelling more than 800,000 Afghans from the country. The Pakistani government defended their actions, citing security concerns and a struggling economy.

Unsurprisingly, this provoked a strong response from the Taliban government. Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had urged Pakistan to reconsider its decision, adding that Pakistan “should tolerate” them.

Sami Yousafzai, a journalist and longtime observer of ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan, said Al Jazeera that the conflict between the two countries is comparable to a fight between two cousins. “These two neighbors act like they are cousins. They can’t leave each other, but they also can’t find a way to repair their relationship. And in all these fights, it affects the public-to-public relations between them,” he said Al Jazeera.

Afghan refugee children sit on a truck full of belongings as they prepare to return home with their families after Pakistan issues the final warning to undocumented immigrants to leave, outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights repatriation centers the Refugees (UNHCR) in the city of Azakhel. Nowshera, Pakistan. File image/Reuters

From friends to enemies

Historically, Pakistan has been seen as a patron of the Afghan Taliban, who first came to power in 1996. The country was believed to have significant influence over the Taliban leadership, which diplomatically protected, financed and protected the country.

“Fearing Soviet influence, Pakistan became a major conduit for Western aid to the Afghan Mujahideen, a collection of rebel groups fighting the Soviets,” said Ubaidullah Khilji, an Afghan history researcher currently based in Islamabad. DW.

When the Taliban seized power in 2021, Islamabad assumed that their good ties would also resume. In fact, Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, then head of Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services intelligence agency, took what seemed like a victory lap in the Afghan capital Kabul. “Please don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he told a Western journalist as he smiled and drank tea at the five-star Sarena Hotel.

However, Pakistani hopes disappeared within the first twelve months of Taliban rule in Kabul. According to Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the American think tank Quincy Institute, the Taliban believed they were no longer dependent on Pakistan.

Moreover, the Taliban are forging new partnerships. Many countries such as China, Russia, Iran and some Central Asian states are cautiously engaging with the regime.

It remains to be seen whether ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan can return to those of the past, but experts believe this may not happen.

With input from authorities