As airstrikes echo across the Durand Line, Pakistan’s escalating feud with Afghanistan takes a geopolitical twist: dragging India into the narrative. Declaring open hostility, Islamabad launched attacks on key Afghan cities after Taliban retaliation. The cycle of violence underscores a fractured alliance that once promised mutual benefits.
Pakistan’s Sunday airstrikes allegedly neutralized 70 insurgents, per official claims. Afghanistan countered that innocents perished, fueling outrage. Accusations flew: Pakistan charged the Taliban with harboring TTP operatives for cross-border raids, unsubstantiated by proof.
Post-U.S. withdrawal, Pakistan was among the first to congratulate the Taliban, anticipating a pliable ally. Reality bit hard. The Taliban asserted independence, resisting Pakistan’s big-brother tactics on policy and borders. Multiple flashpoints—suicide bombings, ground skirmishes—have marred the frontier.
Enter India. Pakistan alleges Taliban-India collusion undermines its security. New Delhi rebuffed this, highlighting Pakistan’s pattern of externalizing failures. India’s Afghan engagement is aid-driven: rapid earthquake relief, development projects, and diplomatic thaw signaling embassy reopening.
Islamabad’s paranoia over India-Afghan warmth is longstanding. It peddles tales of Indian-TTP links and Taliban patronage, dismissed by both parties. Analysts see this as classic deflection amid Pakistan’s crises—skyrocketing inflation, militant threats, eroding faith in leadership.
By framing India as the villain, Pakistan legitimizes aggression against Afghanistan, distracting from homefront turmoil. ‘It’s a playbook move to shift focus,’ one expert noted. As rhetoric heats up, the risk of broader regional entanglement grows, with India caught in the crossfire of proxy blame games.