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With the US-Iran war raging, attention has been diverted from an admittedly lesser ongoing clash between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Whether or not this escalates further remains to be seen. If so, it could well be that after the United States, it may be Pakistan’s turn to learn that Afghanistan is a graveyard of empires.

Islamabad now says that it is in “Open War” with Afghanistan. Action has been low-key in the past two days, but last Thursday, Pakistan conducted air strikes on a number of Afghan targets allegedly to target militants involved in cross-border attacks on Pakistan. In response, the Afghan Taliban targeted Pakistani positions along the border. Pakistan escalated this to a new operation, Ghazb lil Haq, and struck Taliban targets across the country.

Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.

On Saturday, Pakistan continued its ground and air operations against the Afghan Taliban striking an air base in Nangarhar and Kandahar. Reportedly, a Pakistan Air Force fighter was shot down and its pilot captured.

In military terms, Pakistan is much more powerful than Afghanistan. While it has a half-a-million strong army and a strong Air Force, the Taliban forces are equipped with a few helicopters, armoured vehicles and hand-held weapons. The Pakistanis claim that they have killed over 300 Afghan Taliban and injured 500. They say they have destroyed over a hundred posts and captured 22 others. In addition they have destroyed scores of tanks and other vehicles.

For their part, the Taliban have attacked Pakistani posts along the Durand Line that marks the border and also launched a number of attacks using modified civilian drones and some loitering munitions, likely fabricated locally. Attacks were carried out on the artillery school in Nowshera, as well as near the military academy in Abbottabad. The Taliban claimed that they had killed 55 Pakistan soldiers and taken 23 bodies back to Afghanistan, and had also captured some of the soldiers.

The Pakistan-Afghanistan relationship has been a major element in the recent history of the region. To launch a jihad against the Soviet Union, the United States organised all the reactionary forces of Islamism in West and South Asia. The key role was played by Pakistan which received and stored the weapons........

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