Long after today's governments have gone, Pakistan and Afghanistan will still share the same mountains, passes, tribes, markets and frontier. That simple geographical truth should matter more than the anger of the present moment.

Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have rarely appeared as dangerous as they do today. Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban authorities of allowing the TTP and other militants to use Afghan territory for attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul rejects the allegation and accuses Pakistan of violating Afghan sovereignty. Air strikes, border clashes and competing accusations have gradually turned a security dispute into something close to direct confrontation between two states that have neither the geographical space nor the economic luxury for permanent hostility.

The difficulties are old. Afghanistan opposed Pakistan's entry into the United Nations in 1947 and has contested the Durand Line ever since. The Soviet invasion, the arrival of millions of refugees in Pakistan and the years of the Afghan jihad tied the two societies together. After 2001, each side blamed the other for the instability that followed. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, many in Pakistan expected a more manageable western border. Instead, the TTP became the central dispute.

The record since then shows a gradual shift. Pakistan's early strikes in Afghanistan in 2022 and 2024 were limited and followed by quick........

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