Afghanistan and Pakistan relationship remained icy due to different ups and downs , but due to different dynamics like of common border, history, language, cultural and religious aspects make two neighbors always united. Recent Taliban take over is a hot burring issue, and in the discussions because of the humanitarian crisis prevailing in the Afghanistan would not confined themselves in to the Afghanistan but would have spill over effects on the neighboring countries especially Pakistan ad after wards slowly and gradually on to the whole world. In the traditional discourse issue of Afghanistan was treated as a political and military issue but later on it was practically discovered that the spill over generating from the political and military sectors were creating negative impacts on the economic, societal and environmental sectors.In Afghanistan US had fought two wars one was proxy war (1979-1989) in which a notion of victory was achieved and other one was the direct war after the 9/11 (2001-2021) which was a defeat. America have used all of it’s power spent billions and trillions of dollars in order to strengthen the Afghan army but after the withdrawal of American troops, Afghan army collapsed resulting into the sudden takeover of Taliban’s. The world was in the state of shock that now what’s going to happen next, questions were raised like “Is Afghanistan at the brink of civil war” international community stance is that they are looking towards Taliban’s that how much they are going to strengthen the human and women rights, then the are going to recognize them, But Taliban take over is a matter of serious concerns for the Pakistan because both are neighboring and in history Pakistan already paid a huge price and this time also going to bring repercussions for Pakistan, If proper measured are not taken. As take over of Taliban recent so there is no definite research being done, as world is right now monitoring the Taliban regime how much they are going to fulfil their promises
Rise of Taliban have generated fear around the whole world, people in Afghanistan are trying to escape from the Afghanistan and want to find a safe place to live, Refugees from Afghanistan are moving in the Europe, south Asian states, central Asian states. These unemployed and unregistered refugees when have nothing to eat would indulged themselves in the terrorist activities. Post 9/11, emergence of terrorism in Afghanistan didn’t confined itself to the Afghanistan but had spillover effects on the neighbors central Asia states emergence of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Islamic Movement of Turkestan, Hizb-ut-Tahrir al-Islami (HT) and Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) and its threats to central Asia. All leaders were some how affiliated with Afghanistan and were inspired by the ideology of Osama bin Laden. Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Similarly in the middle eastern region in Pakistan too. These terrorist movements did not remain in the Central Asian states or Middle Eastern states but also had crossover effects on the western world attack of the 9/11 is an example similarly attacks in the South Asian states in India parliament attack, claimed that LET and JEM were involved. from these examples one can conclude that terrorism is not a threat to single entity but an threat to the international world, Similarly the refugees which are coming out from the Afghanistan and are trying to get the safe places moving towards European countries hence the European countries, who are also worried about the movement of these refugees because they can create serious repercussions as created on Pakistan. These refugees are unemployed they don’t have jobs so they are create plethora of problems. As per the theory of Barry Buzan regional security complex theory that the world is connected and regions are connected together. That’s why right now the international communities are worried about the future of Afghanistan.
Pakistan and Afghanistan both need to develop friendly relation because any sort of mishandling with Taliban would generate negative externalities on Pakistan, Use of hard power is never going to work, so trust building in the region is extremely important, There is an need to engage with Taliban, holding discussion with the official representative from Afghanistan and Pakistan, similarly Pashtun representatives should be added, role of institutions and think tanks is extremely important. Working on the border issue, refugees issue both can work on the bilateral issues like how to counter the negative sentiments prevailing in between the citizens of the two neighbors, How to address the issue of terrorism, TTP issue which was involved in the deadly attacks on the Pakistan soil. Issues of climate change, narcotics and drug trade. Pakistan and Afghanistan could work in order to enhance the trade and connectivity, Afghanistan can provide Pakistan shortest route to the central Asian states. Both states now can enhance the cross border cultural ties. Military to military and police trainings officials who served during the war times could do joint training.
So Pakistan needs to have very balanced policies while dealing with the Afghan Taliban, there is an need to have inclusive approach because any sort of vacuum could leads toward the civil war in the Afghanistan and its negative repercussions on Pakistan’s societal, economic, political, military, and environmental sectors of Pakistan.
