A Major Shift in Pakistan's Policy Backing For The Afghan Taliban

In a major change, Pakistan's policy backing for the Afghan Taliban government is turned down. Pakistan was the first country to recognize the Taliban and extend its support at internal as well as international levels. 

Pak Will Not Back More Afghan Taliban [Credit-Shutterstock]

According to media reports, Pakistan has decided not to support or extend any assistance to Kabul after it failed to neutralize the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] terror group.

Deteriorating Afghan-Pak Relations:

The Express Tribune newspaper reported on Thursday that Islamabad will no longer extend any "special privileges" to the Afghan Taliban government. This shows that the relations between both countries are deteriorating and a major shift in Pakistan's policy backing for the Afghan Taliban.

Pakistan has been accusing the Afghan Taliban of backing the TTP because the Pakistan Taliban has ideological linkages with them. It was established in 2007 under an umbrella group of several militant outfits. 

Deteriorating Afghan-Pak Relations [Credit-ChiniMandi]

The main objective of TTP is to impose the strict brand of Islam across Pakistan. Pakistan had hoped that the Afghan Taliban would not have allowed TTP to operate from their soil. Taliban has refused every time and called Pakistan to maintain its home and don't blame Afghan. This phenomenon apparently leads to straining ties. 

Official sources told the newspaper on Wednesday that Pakistan's goodwill gestures and assistance to the Afghan Taliban were taken for granted after it returned to power in August 2021. Now Pakistan sees that the chances of the Afghan Taliban government getting international recognition have become far slimmer. 

The stance of Pakistan Towards Afghan Taliban in The Past:

However, Pakistan has faced criticism from inside and outside the country for backing the Afghan Taliban as the new ruler in Kabul. But Pakistan defended its approach and insisted the Afghan Taliban is the reality and urged the international community and stakeholders, especially Western countries, to engage.

Now Pakistan is accusing the Afghan Taliban government of harboring "our enemies." So it decided not to provide any privileges to the Taliban. A high-level delegation from Pakistan, including the defense minister and the inter-service intelligence [ISI] director general, visited Kabul in February.

The Afghan Taliban government again insisted on Wednesday that the country's soil was not being used by militants to attack other countries, and said that Pakistan's security problems were internal matter. 

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid [Credit-Reuters]

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid responded to claims of the caretaker prime minister of Pakistan, "We would like to say that the way the Islamic Emirate wants peace and stability in Afghanistan, it wants peace in Pakistan as well."

He further added that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is not responsible for maintaining peace in Pakistan. They should solve their domestic problems on their own and not blame Afghanistan for their inefficiencies.

It seems that Pakistan has fed up with the double-speak of Kabul and made a strategic decision in Pakistan's policy backing for the Afghan Taliban. According to the analysts, Pakistan usually follows the same path when India accuses them of terror activities. Now it is forced to eat the fruits that they have seeded in the past.  

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