Islamabad, Oct 21 (IANS) Pakistan is planning to conduct another proxy war in its decades-long involvement in Afghanistan with several recent media reports suggesting that Islamabad is planning to allow the Afghanistan opposition to open an office on its territory, a move viewed as a direct attempt to undermine the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, a report has revealed.
The development comes amid rising tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan following Islamabad’s airstrikes on Afghan territory and the mass deportation of Afghan refugees.
“Analysts believe Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, led by Field Marshal Asim Munir, is increasingly frustrated with the Taliban’s failure to serve its traditional ‘strategic depth’ role — using Afghanistan as a friendly, pliant buffer against India. Instead, the Taliban has maintained a pragmatic distance from Islamabad and opened diplomatic channels with New Delhi, a development that has enraged Pakistan’s Generals,” a report in European Times stated.
When Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, many in Pakistan’s establishment called it a “strategic victory,” believing that Taliban would work as per interests of Islamabad. However, Taliban leadership has resisted Pakistan’s pressure and refused to turn Afghanistan into a client state.
“Frustrated by this defiance, Pakistan’s military now appears to be returning to its old playbook: destabilization through proxies. Reports indicate that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are quietly backing exiled Afghan opposition figures and are considering allowing them to open an official office on Pakistani soil. This would mark a major escalation in Islamabad’s policy toward Kabul. Several political figures from the former Afghan republic, including members of the erstwhile Northern Alliance and the exiled National Resistance Front (NRF), have already been living in Pakistan for years,” the report added.
Pakistani officials and members of the Afghan opposition have reportedly held meetings in recent months to discuss ways to “revitalise” the anti-Taliban movement. Observers have warned that Pakistan’s policy risks plunging Afghanistan back into chaos.
Pakistan has been conducting airstrikes in eastern Afghanistan, emphasising that it is targetting the TTP hideouts. However, majority of these strikes hit civilian areas, killing and injuring dozens of Afghans, majority of them Pashtuns. These incidents have sparked public anger against Pakistan, with thousands of Afghans criticising Islamabad’s action on social media. Pakistan’s handling of Afghan refugees has also strained bilateral ties. Since 2023, Pakistan has repatriated hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees, many of whom lived in Pakistan for decades.
“The plan to open an Afghan opposition office in Pakistan would take this confrontation even further. Analysts believe Islamabad’s goal is to cultivate an alternative Afghan leadership loyal to Pakistani interests. By hosting opposition leaders, Pakistan hopes to signal that it can still shape Afghanistan’s future and punish the Taliban for its defiance. But such a step would likely provoke retaliation from Kabul and further destabilize the border regions. The Taliban has already warned that any anti-Taliban activities organized from Pakistan would be treated as acts of hostility. This raises the prospect of cross-border clashes, militant escalation, and even greater instability across the region,” the European Times report mentioned.
–IANS
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