Opinion | Pakistan And The Collapse Of Its 'Good Taliban, Bad Taliban' Illusions

Updated: Mar 23, 2026 11:28 am IST Published On Mar 23, 2026 11:28 am IST Last Updated On Mar 23, 2026 11:28 am IST

Published On Mar 23, 2026 11:28 am IST

Last Updated On Mar 23, 2026 11:28 am IST

The 'Good Taliban, Bad Taliban' fallacy unravelled far quicker than Pakistan anticipated after the Afghan Taliban took over Kabul. Once nurtured, funded, and supported by the Pakistani establishment, the group has since become one of the most pressing security challenges and structural liabilities for Rawalpindi. 

Days after the Taliban overthrew the West-backed Ashraf Ghani government, then-Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was quick to state that Afghans had "broken the shackles of slavery," and former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Faiz Hameed was found drinking coffee in a Kabul hotel.

However, the moment of perceived victory proved fleeting. Since 2021, the relationship has gradually deteriorated, embroiled in a repetitive cycle of calibrated hostility, border clashes, closure of border crossings, backchannel third-party mediation, short-lived ceasefire, and renewed violence. Pakistan also tried trade coercion, direct negotiation, and multilateral mediation with Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and China - with no meaningful success. The crux of the issue was the Afghan Taliban's inability, or rather unwillingness, to curb Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), an anti-Pakistan group that has steadily intensified attacks in Pakistan's peripheral provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, as well as periodic small-scale attacks in urban cities.  

That........

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