In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, Strategic Depth Remains an Illusion for Pakistan’s ISI

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Taliban’s victory in August 2021 was heralded in Pakistan because it had damaged the “bondage shackle”. Furthermore, when the gap in the Taliban faction arises, the contents move to the action and impose a temporary government in Afghanistan.

With its success campaign against the National Resistance Front in Panjshir Valley, the Taliban has been able to stabilize the government even though with the cost of growth in humanitarian disasters in the country. However, regardless of the success of the Taliban in stabilizing Afghanistan, the “strategic depth” of Pakistan, which is widely proud of far from being realized.

News clashes between Pakistani soldiers and the Taliban have often occurred. Many of these incidents have involved artillery fire on the border, dismantling Pakistani examination posts on the border of Afghanistan-Pakistan, and fostering terrorist attacks by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP).

On February 6, five Pakistani soldiers were killed in Kurram Regency in Khyber Province Pakhtunkhwa in cross-border shootings from Afghanistan. The statement released by public relations between services (ISPR) after the incident said that “terrorists from within Afghanistan, crossed the international border, opened fire on Pakistan’s troops”.

It also condemns “the use of Afghan land by terrorists for activities against Pakistan” and hope that “the government while Afghanistan will not allow the behavior of the activity against Pakistan in the future”. The statement highlighted the growing concern about the use of the Afghan region for terrorist operations in Pakistan. With this, Pakistan became the first country to accuse the Afghan Taliban to hide terrorists.

After the Taliban victory, several in Pakistan became tend to think that the Taliban would act as a pressure group at TTP to limit his future attack. The presence of Sirajuddin Haqqani as interior minister in a temporary government has also advanced this hope. As a result, with the mediation of Sirajuddin, the ceasefire throughout the month was announced in November 2021.

However, Pakistan’s refusal to release the TTP top commander in the end leading to the collapse of the ceasefire in December. Since then, TTP has continued his attack on Pakistani military forces. According to the Pakistani peace study report, 207 terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan in 2021, which led to 335 losses. These attacks marked an increase of 42 percent from 2020. TTP itself claimed 282 attacks in 2021 and 42 additional attacks in January 2022, after the expiration of a ceasefire.