The latest Pakistan-Afghanistan border clashes mark a dangerous turn in a crisis that has steadily worsened since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021. The immediate trigger was the deadly terrorist assault in Kohat by militants linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, followed by further violence in Hangu. Pakistan responded with precision strikes against terrorist hideouts inside Afghanistan, continuing its policy that major attacks traced to sanctuaries across the border will invite direct reprisals. The confrontation widened when drones were launched from Afghanistan towards Pakistani territory and border positions came under attack. Pakistan intercepted the drones and struck locations it said were connected with these operations. The conflict has therefore moved beyond strikes against TTP hideouts to Taliban military assets involved in hostile activity against Pakistan.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's address to the UN General Assembly on Friday provides an opportunity to place this campaign in its wider context. Pakistan's case is that it is defending itself against cross-border terrorism, but the danger developing inside Afghanistan extends well beyond Pakistan. TTP may principally target Pakistan, but Afghanistan also contains a wider militant environment involving ISKP, Al-Qaeda and groups threatening China and Central Asia. If these networks are allowed to consolidate, their ambitions may eventually extend towards Russia, the Gulf, Europe and America.

History offers a stark warning. The Afghan jihad of the 1980s was not Pakistan's enterprise alone. It was a shared geopolitical project against the Soviet occupation involving the United States and its Western allies, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries. Pakistan became the principal frontline state because of geography. Once Soviet forces withdrew in 1989, however, most international stakeholders departed, leaving Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with the consequences.

Afghanistan subsequently descended into civil war and warlordism. The Taliban emerged from this chaos and Al-Qaeda found........

© The Friday Times