Will illusion be replaced by realism in Afghan policy?

The first session of Islamabad Symposium 2025 was held on October 15, around the time Pakistan and Afghanistan were engaged in border clashes. The theme of the symposium was "Balancing Relationships Between the Global North and Global South: Challenges and Opportunities". The inaugural session was followed by the launch of a book, Pakistan's Search for Peace with Afghanistan: Statecraft, Policy, and Strategy, written by Dr Muhammad Zahid Latif, the Rector NUST.

Both the book and the symposium's discussions, published online, provided valuable insights for academicians and policymakers about the leadership role Pakistan can play as a major partner of the Global South, and the kind of relationship it should build with Afghanistan.

The speakers also exposed the fallacies of the Western "rules-based order" and highlighted the growing challenges for the West after its double standards were revealed during the Gaza genocide.

The majority of speakers emphasised that the Global North remains unresponsive to the issues faced by the Global South (home to 86% of the world's population) and that the Global South has now opted for inclusive multilateralism and collective development and cooperation as a response to weaponised interdependence.

There is no doubt that the Western model of a rules-based order has suffered a loss of credibility at a time when the West is already losing power, while the Global South is offering an alternative approach based on non-interference in internal affairs, indivisible security and respect for civilisational diversity.

The key takeaway from the Symposium is that a multi-nodal world order is evolving, and the era of domination by one country or a group of countries is coming to an end. The evolving geopolitics is transforming the global order.

The new geo-economics is rebalancing North-South economic and trade relations, and the changing geopolitical landscape offers strategic space for Pakistan to leverage its potential. Conversely, this requires a consistent and sustainable foreign policy. Whenever state operators are questioned about their irrational and illogical Afghan Policy, they respond that it was designed to meet the demands of a particular time. These shifting narratives over the Pak-Afghan relationship have already claimed the lives of over 100,000 civilians and security personnel, yet the architects of that policy have not accepted that it was fundamentally flawed.

The book by Dr Latif, launched during the symposium, offers thoughtful and insightful guidance for peaceful coexistence and the future trajectory of Pak-Afghan relations. Dr Zahid, a retired lieutenant general of Pakistan Army, has been at the centre of the country's strategic landscape for decades. His viewpoint appears clear: the only sustainable relationship Pakistan can have with Afghanistan must be based on geo-economics rather than the faulty notion of brotherhood.

Pakistan has suffered immensely due to its defective and outdated Afghan policy and has failed to revise it even after the APS Peshawar massacre of 2014. That tragedy provided a major opportunity for Pakistan to review, revisit and redesign its Afghan policy. However, Islamabad made only cosmetic changes, which further emboldened the Afghan Taliban to use Afghan soil against Pakistan.

Islamabad has never accepted that Kabul has historically been a hostile neighbour, and Pakistan's strategic policy toward Afghanistan has never been rooted in realism, resilience, or adaptability.

From classical to contemporary strategic thought, it has always been emphasised that national interest must be the supreme guideline when making diplomatic, military or economic decisions. But shouldn't such decisions serve the core national interests: sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and economic stability.

This time, Pakistan seems serious about ending its costly love affair with the Afghan Taliban and Afghanistan. Nevertheless, it is too early to say that the "Pak-Afghan Bhai Bhai" phase is altogether over.