KARACHI:
The deteriorating situation in Afghanistan is worrisome for Pakistan because of the threat it poses to the country. The spectre of perpetual civil war and instability in the aftermath of US withdrawal looms large.
Against the backdrop of this untenable situation, Pakistan is once again being made a scapegoat for the lingering turmoil in Afghanistan. On the one hand, the Afghan government, which has long accused Pakistan of supporting the Taliban, continues to allege the latter for its own blatant failings in the war-ravaged country. On the other hand, the US administration, instead of realising its own perceived policy failures in Afghanistan, has resorted to a blame game to protect its own image after a hurried departure from Kabul. Pakistan has faced the brunt of the deleterious repercussions of the longstanding war in Afghanistan. Indeed, Pakistan has placed its own security at stake to neutralise the growing resurgence of militancy next door. Given the fragile status of the economy and acute political crisis within, Pakistan readily accepted the US-led war on terror and subsequently acted as a frontline state to wipe out the insurgent groups emanating from Afghanistan.
If history is our guide, the Afghanistan imbroglio has more been subjected to regional power politics and less on the well-coordinated plan to ameliorate the sufferings of its people. It is due to this reason that Pakistan along with its volatile western neighbour continues to bear the impacts of the vicious games of foreign powers.
Ammar Aslam Muhammadi
Sukkur
Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2021.
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