PAKISTAN – AFGHANISTAN RELATIONSHIP SINCE 2014

Introduction: -

These are the two most important countries of South Asia and members of SAARC and have
cultural, Economical, and historical linkages. Both the countries shared a 2430 km border,
which is called Durand Line. This border has been established between Afghanistan and
British India in 1893 when an agreement was negotiated between Mortimer Durand of British
India and Amir Abdul Rehman Khan of Afghanistan.
     
Relationship between both the countries: -

Afghanistan’s relationship with Pakistan can be described with the metaphor see-saw. For
many years Afghanistan faced several crises and wars but after many years of fighting and
facing different hardships as Afghanistan was hopefully moving towards the end game, it
faced many domestic security challenges that were unconquerable if not focused on regional
security and stability. 
 
The various challenges were ethnic divide, a weak economy, rampant illicit drug trade,
interflow of refugees & unmonitored cross–border movement of ordinary civilians &
militants. These issues were directly linked to the Pak-Afghan border. 
 
Lack of management & regulation led to an increase in cross–border attacks & emergence of
Tehreek – I – Taliban (TTP) on the Afghan side border.
 
After all this & especially after the 9/11 attack U.S. military sent their troops to Afghanistan
for many years U.S. troops were there but in 2014 after many discussions with Taliban
leaders in Doha U.S. forces agreed to withdraw their forces from Afghanistan.
 
The then-president of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani wanted to improve relations with Pakistan.
So, at the Beijing conference, Afghanistan in its new foreign policy introduced the concept of
5 circles in which they put Pakistan in its first circle which made a pleasant effect on Afghan
– Pak relations.
 
During that time Pak gave aid of $2 million to Afghanistan for their infrastructure
development.
 
But all this situation got tensed up after the attack on Army Public School, Peshawar on 16th
December 2014 in which Pak blamed Afghanistan for this attack. After, this Pakistan closed
its border with Afghanistan and decided to construct at the Torkham border.
 
In 2015, Pakistan blamed Afghanistan for supporting matters against Pakistan on the will of
India. Due to this trade between both countries dropped to min. $1.5 billion.
 
Again, when Ashraf Ghani became president, he showed interest in improving his relations
with Pakistan and invited the then PM of Pak Mr. Nawaz Sharif.
 
He paid a visit to Afghanistan and assured to work against terrorists. This put a pleasant
effect on the relations between both countries.

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After this when in 2016 Pakistan announced $500 million in aid to Afghan for infrastructure
improvement, Afghanistan refused it by saying that Pak is involved in terrorist attacks and
accused Pakistan of being a “Taliban center”.
 
When two suicide attacks happened on the Afghan parliament in which hundreds of people
were killed and the Afghans blamed Pak without any formal investigation.
 
With all these scenarios the rift between both the nations kept on increasing and it led to more
tension between both countries.
 
After a while, Pakistan conveyed its wish to regulate the Pak-Afghan border and decided to
enhance trust between their militaries. It was decided that Director – General of both the
countries would meet on regular basis for maintaining peace on the border and enhance the
trade activities.
 
Present Situation –
 
Afghanistan has been a global debate for four-plus decades many nations came and try to rule
over it, the British gave up in 1842, the Soviets in 1991 and most recently the Americans in
2021 one of the most powerful nations in today’s time lost the war of 20 years to Taliban.
 
None of the major powers that invaded the country ever thought of investing in working with
the diverse geo-ethnic landscape and only exploited it to serve their objective.
 
The takeover of the Taliban over Afghanistan has now become a reality which came with a
lot of destruction, violence, death, etc and the country which is most affected by all this is
Pakistan. It has brought more serious challenges with it which will affect the Afghanistan-
Pakistan relationship even more.
 
Afghans largely hold external interventions and invasions for this of Afghanistan and
Pakistan has been pointed out mostly for this as it has various reasons for it.
 
As Pakistan is a frontline state and it’s an ally to the US in wars against the Soviets in 1991
and then against Al-Qaeda in 2001. Pakistan’s doctrine of ‘strategic depth’ is seen as
breaching Afghanistan’s sovereignty and its active support to Mujahideen since 1980 and
even to the Taliban.

Afghanistan’s malicious policies towards Pakistan. Its claims on Pakistan’s territory, its non-
acceptance of the Durand Line as the international border, its support for the Pashtunistan
issue, and its readiness to play a proxy role for India. All of this led to Pakistan applying the
doctrine of strategic depth to Afghanistan.
 
As the Taliban was gradually increasing in power this helped Pak to resolve conflict and
because of Pakistan Doha talks were possible which led to an eventual withdrawal of the US.
 
In August 2021 Afghanistan was captured by the Taliban. On 30th August 2021 the last
airplane taking the last US soldiers flew from there before the announced deadline of
withdrawal, which caused a lot of humiliation to the mightiest superpower of the world.
 

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  Conclusion –
Afghanistan and Pakistan are bound together in a symbiotic relationship. This means that
what ails one country affects the other and what benefits another has an automatic effect on
the other
In my opinion for having better relations between both the countries, they should have some
planned strategies. Like both the countries should have mutual trust between them, they
should start bilateral trade with each other which will help the economy of both the countries
to grow and even the people. Most importantly both the countries should have effective
border management because lately border has been loosely managed by the militants on both
sides which increased the number of terrorist attacks. Afghan not recognizing the Durand line
as int. border is of great concern despite Pakistan’s continuous efforts. Management of
borders will help in prohibiting cross-border movement of terrorists.