Pakistan and Afghanistan’s turbulent relationship has come full circle. Fierce military clashes along the Durand Line between October 9 and 13 forced Qatari and Turkish mediators to step in, brokering a brief ceasefire. When representatives from both countries reconvened in Istanbul on October 28 to build on that fragile truce, there was little optimism that the talks would succeed. And unsurprisingly, they did not with Pakistan confirming the failure of the dialogue, thereby demonstrating the extent of political chasm between Islamabad and Kabul.

With the breakdown of dialogue, both sides appear entrenched in their positions. Expectedly, Pakistan’s federal information minister Attaullah Tarar blamed the collapse of talks squarely on the Afghan Taliban regime, declaring that Islamabad’s “fervent efforts to bring about any workable solution" had failed due to “the Afghan Taliban’s unabated support to anti-Pakistan terrorists". This statement, part accusation and part deflection, captures the essence of Pakistan’s current predicament: it cannot accept that the Afghan Taliban, once nurtured as a proxy, is no longer willing to play the role Islamabad had scripted for it.

For decades, Pakistan’s military establishment viewed Afghanistan not as a neighbour but as a strategic buffer where it can exert influence to gain the so-called strategic to deny regional adversaries like India and Iran a foothold. When the Taliban seized power in August 2021, Pakistan’s generals celebrated, believing it restored Pakistan’s long-sought “strategic depth" in the country. It was seen as the culmination of their long and costly project that was undone by the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. That illusion lasted mere months.

The Afghan Taliban, though ideologically aligned and ethnically overlapping with Pakistan’s own Pashtun population, have proven unwilling to serve as Islamabad’s junior partner. They see themselves not as an appendage........

© News18