Monitoring Desk: “Pakistan supported the Taliban during the Afghan insurgency in the hope the group would deal with the TTP and other terrorist groups used by hostile agencies during the governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan but the hope evaporated into the thin air shortly after the Taliban’s return to power in August 15, 2021. Pakistan’s romance with the Afghan Taliban was bound to turn sour. But it would be this soon, nobody had anticipated because Pakistan saw a staggering 80% surge in terrorist attacks after Afghan Taliban took over Kabul”.
This was observed by coauthors of a special report titled “RISING TERROR, BROKEN TRUST” published in Express Tribune on Sunday.
Authored by Naveed Hussain and Shahabullah Yousafzai, the report says that India’s recent initiative to develop Chabahar Port has been welcomed by Afghan traders and the Taliban regime has already committed a $35 million investment in Chabahar Port for the construction of various projects, including commercial and trade complex. A special economic zone for Afghanistan is being established at Chabahar.
The report explained the multilayered relations between the Afghan Taliban and terror groups including TTP and indicates that it is almost impossible for the Kabul regime to shun its relationship with TTP because such a move would definitely destabilize the Afghan government but also indicated that the Afghan Taliban cannot ignore their international obligations and let their country become the epicenter of terrorism and threaten its neighbors. Writers suggested Afghan government that it is unwise to barter away their crucial relationship with Pakistan in exchange for a group that will ultimately become a geostrategic liability for them.
