Islamabad: Pakistan’s experience in Afghanistan demonstrates the risks of leveraging militant proxies for immediate strategic advantage, turning what was once considered a force multiplier into a source of weakness.
As Islamabad resorts to air strikes in Afghan territory to address a decade-old problem, the deeper fracture lies not just along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border but within the very logic of proxy warfare, a report detailed.
According to a report in ‘South Asia Monitor’, Pakistan’s recent airstrikes inside Afghanistan killing dozens of people, including women and children, mark a dangerous escalation of tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban regime in Kabul.
The strikes, it said, come against the backdrop of the rising cross-border attacks by extremist outfits, particularly the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), reflecting the region’s rapidly deteriorating security environment.
“What was once touted as Pakistan’s doctrine of ‘strategic depth’ in Afghanistan now appears to be collapsing under the weight of internal contradictions and militant blowback. As tensions mount and ties between Islamabad and Kabul erode, the old proxy architecture that sustained Pakistan’s Afghan calculus is fracturing,” the report detailed
“For decades, Pakistan nurtured the Taliban as a core component of its strategic depth doctrine against India. During the Afghan-Soviet war and through the 1990s, Islamabad’s security establishment cultivated the Taliban as a friendly regime that would deny India influence in Kabul and provide rear bases for anti-India groups,” it added.
The report highlighted that training hubs in Afghan provinces such as Khost, Jalalabad and Kandahar facilitated operations by Pakistan-based terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Following the 9/11 terror attacks, it said, Pakistan publicly aligned with Washington’s ‘War on Terror’, while simultaneously maintaining covert ties with militant proxies. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) reportedly oversaw terror networks such as the Haqqanis, LeT and Jaish, retaining influence inside Afghanistan, yet maintaining plausible deniability.
“The 2008 and 2009 bombings of the Indian Embassy in Kabul — attributed to the Haqqani network — were emblematic of this dual-track strategy. India’s diplomatic and development footprint suffered as security threats mounted, forcing a recalibration of its presence,” the report stated.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the report said, Pakistan has confronted simultaneous pressure from the Taliban regime and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It added that recent Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghanistan, coinciding with the Taliban’s diplomatic engagements abroad, seem to convey resolve — both to Kabul and to Washington.
“Islamabad may calculate that a tougher posture against the Taliban could revive aspects of its earlier counter-terror partnership with the United States. For Washington, limiting extremist safe havens remains a priority, though strategic focus has shifted elsewhere,” the report noted
“However, coercion carries risks. Airstrikes that result in civilian casualties may further inflame anti-Pakistan sentiment within Afghanistan and strengthen hardliners in the Taliban leadership. Rather than restoring leverage, force could accelerate estrangement,” it warned.
(IANS)
