From the DW:
“Are Pakistan and the Afghan
Taliban drifting apart?”
(Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah
Mehmood Qureshi receives Taliban members in Islamabad on October 3, 2019)
Pakistan has historically been
supportive of the Taliban and has maintained good ties with the group, but a
rift in relations has begun to appear in the past few months. What are the
reasons behind it? The Pakistani government has urged the international
community to work with the Taliban In late September, a little over a month
after taking control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, Taliban fighters stopped a
Pakistani truck at the Torkham border crossing and removed the country's flag
from it. The incident angered Pakistan, but Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
swiftly denied reports of emerging rifts between Afghanistan's new rulers and
Islamabad. But there are some other sore
spots between the Taliban and Pakistan. The Taliban's refusal to recognize the
Durand Line as a permanent border separating the Pashtun-majority areas of
Pakistan and Afghanistan also raised eyebrows in Islamabad. A majority of
Pashtuns — most Taliban leaders and fighters belong to the ethnic group — do
not accept the 2,670-kilometre- (1,660-mile) long Durand Line as the
international land border between the two countries. The Durand Line was
established by the British in 1893, and has remained a bone of contention
between Afghanistan and Pakistan since the latter gained independence from
British rule in 1947.
Taliban seeks legitimacy Pakistan played an important role in
facilitating the 2020 US-Taliban deal. It has also backed the Taliban regime
since it regained power in Afghanistan on August 15. But Pakistan has
not yet recognized the Taliban as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers, possibly
because of pressure from the United States. Experts say that this could
also be the reason behind growing friction between Islamabad and the Taliban.
On Wednesday, the Taliban urged the international community to recognize
its government in Afghanistan at a summit in Moscow. But there is still no
guarantee that regional and international players will pay heed to the request.
Islamabad has urged global leaders to recognize the Taliban regime, but
these efforts suffered a major blow when the Taliban did not announce an
inclusive interim government involving different stakeholders and ethnicities.
The group's crackdown on protesters and curbs on human rights have also put
Pakistani authorities in a tight spot when pleading Taliban's case to the
international community. In turn, the Taliban feel that Pakistan can do
more to convince the world to accept their rule.
Pakistan 'supporting the
Haqqanis' Apart from these international affairs, there are some pressing
domestic issues that are souring the ties between the Taliban and Pakistan. Analysts
say that some veteran Taliban commanders are miffed that Islamabad is trying to
keep the new Afghan regime under control through its backing of the Haqqani
Network, which is part of the transitional government. "In the 1990s
[after the Soviet forces left Afghanistan], Pakistan backed Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, a warlord, to control Afghanistan. Now, Islamabad is supporting the
Haqqanis, who have been given key ministries in the interim government,"
Said Alam Mehsud, a Peshawar-based expert on Afghan and Pashtun affairs, told
DW. "This support, however, has angered some Taliban factions," he
said. A former Afghan official told DW on condition of anonymity that senior
Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Salem Zaeef, acting Afghan Defense Minister
Mullah Yaqoob and many other Taliban leaders are not pleased with Pakistan's
backing of members of the the Haqqani Network. Reports about a tug-of-war among
Taliban factions first appeared during the establishment of a caretaker setup
in Afghanistan. The transitional setup suggested that Afghanistan's new rulers
were unable to unify their ranks. Mullah Hasan Akhund was eventually nominated
as acting prime minister, and Sirajuddin Haqqani as acting interior minister. Experts
say the decision to delegate a senior position to Haqqani is proof that the
Taliban did not want to irk the powerful Haqqani Network, which is believed to
have become a suborganization of the Taliban in its own right. "The
Haqqanis have sacrificed a lot during the war against the US. They have also
been close to Pakistan since the [1980s] Afghan jihad," Amjad Shoaib, a
Pakistani defense analyst, told DW. But Shoaib, who retired as a general in the
Pakistani army, insisted that Islamabad also has good relations with other
Taliban factions.
Remnants of the Afghan war
against Soviets The Haqqani Network was formed by Jalaluddin Haqqani, who
fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In 1995, the Haqqani
Network allied with the Taliban and the two groups captured the Afghan capital
Kabul in 1996. In 2012, the US designated the group a terrorist organization.
On September 4, 2018, the Taliban announced that Jalaluddin passed away after a
long illness.
Afghan public pressure Despite
Islamabad's historic good ties with the Taliban, many Afghans see Pakistan as a
country that interferes in their domestic affairs. Islamabad has been
trying to change this perception by providing crucial aid to Afghans, but some
of recent steps have irked the Afghan population. Latif Afridi, a
Peshawar-based security analyst, told DW that the frequent closure of trade
routes along the Afghan-Pakistan border is causing problems for many Afghans.
"Pakistan is the biggest market for Afghanistan's agriculture items.
The border closures have rendered Afghans' vegetables and fruits rotten and
unusable," Afridi said. "These unilateral measures have dealt
a blow to an already-faltering Afghan economy and has angered even those Afghan
officials who have historically been pro-Pakistan," Afridi added. The
expert also said the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) took advantage of
the crisis in Afghanistan and sold expensive tickets to Afghan passengers in
the aftermath of the fall of Ashraf Ghani's government. The PIA recently
suspended its flights from Kabul, citing the problematic behavior of the
Taliban officials. Analysts say the Taliban also realize that many
Afghans are unhappy with Pakistan — hence, they have also criticized some of
these measures.
The alliance will last Talat
Ayesha Wizarat, a Karachi-based international relations expert, believes that
some members of the former Afghan government are trying to exploit these rifts
between the Afghan Taliban and Pakistan, adding that Pakistani authorities and
the Islamist group need to sit together and sort out these issues. Sanna
Ejaz, an expert on Afghanistan affairs, told DW that the ties between the
Taliban and Pakistan are unlikely to break despite these rifts. "They
[the Taliban] won't turn against Islamabad. The are basically Pakistan's proxies,"
she said. Ejaz acknowledges that some differences exist between
Islamabad and the Taliban, but said they were resolvable.
^ It’s sad to see a Terrorist
Group lose its Bromance with its main supporter. The more isolated the Taliban
become hopefully the more they will actually be willing to implement equal
civil rights for all Afghan men and women. ^
https://www.dw.com/en/are-pakistan-and-the-afghan-taliban-drifting-apart/a-59575052
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