Political, governmental, and social circles in Pakistan have always been divided and conflicted on important issues such as extremism, guerrilla organizations, global proxies, foreign policy, and counter-terrorism, which is why no comprehensive policy could be formulated on these serious issues in the country, nor did all stakeholders trust each other and develop a clear strategy to deal with the challenges facing the country’s security. Pakistan has been at war with Afghanistan since 1979, and the war has had a political, social, economic, and cultural impact on its two most important provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The alleged interference in the affairs of Afghanistan, the extraordinary interest of some religious, and nationalist parties and the war economy involved in the wars fought there, constantly attracted the state and political circles of Pakistan, and as a result, the society was not only divided but also confused in every era.
Why did this situation arise and what mistakes were made by Pakistan? To find answers to these two questions, the views of some important leaders of the country, relevant experts and analysts were sought, they described their views and observations as follows.
Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao
(Former Minister of the Interior)
Pakistan’s foreign policy was frequently ambiguous, and we disliked the Soviet bloc for being a member of the bourgeois American bloc. In the 1980s, when tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States in Afghanistan escalated into war, we joined sides and began claiming that the Soviet Union was attempting to enter hot water by conquering Pakistan after Afghanistan. Later, we paid a high price for this approach, as Pakistan was consumed by bloodshed and extremism. It is very sad to say that among those who were subjected to the attitudes and incidents of extremism and terrorism in the initial period in the context of a certain type of situation within Pakistan, my brother and the hard-working leader of the province, Hayat Muhammad Khan Sarfahrat, who was martyred in a bomb blast inside Peshawar University in the mid-70s as part of a conspiracy, can be named as the first victim of terrorism in this background. His martyrdom created a very strange situation and the bitterness increased a lot. After 9/11, Pakistan had to grapple with a more complex situation and the result was that the worst wave of unrest swept across several other regions of the country, including Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The US and its allies did not play the role that was needed to eradicate terrorism from the region. Three or four suicide attacks were carried out on him as a result of which many colleagues of the party Qaumi Watan Party were martyred and injured, but despite this, Aftab Sherpao continued to play an active role at every level in promoting peace and better relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and in this regard, the example of an important jirga held in Kabul, which was organized with the efforts of Sherpao to bring together the highest leadership and national polytheists of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it was practically implemented to reduce or eliminate the mistrust and tension between the two countries, but the subsequent events and circumstances cannot end the distance and the extremist groups took advantage of this situation and made both countries suffer from the worst kind of situation. During this time, a good policy in the form of a National Action Plan had come up, but still, it was not fully implemented. During the last three elections, these Pashtun nationalists and religious leaders were kept out of the assemblies which could have helped in the efforts to overcome all these issues and as a result, Pakistan had to face the challenges of a new war after the year 2021.
Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan
(Representative of Jaamat-e-Islami)
Various Pakistani rulers and institutions bear direct responsibility for the situation. Because they struck bargains at various times to defend their personal and institutional interests from global powers. Our foreign policy was developed and implemented by the establishment rather than parliament and political stakeholders, and as a result, we were not only isolated in the globe but also the focal point of proxies and wars.
In the midst of all this, the Pashtuns and Balochs faced extremely negative state behavior, and the two nations were badly affected by the ongoing situation. Negative propaganda against them, instead of calling them oppressed, they were called extremists. The question arises that when the number of attacks in these two provinces of Pakistan once again increased alarmingly in the last few years, what was the performance of the security agencies with a budget of billions and why these agencies failed to provide security to the people?
Mian Iftikhar Hussain
(Representative of Awami National Party)
When war was declared in Afghanistan in the 1980s, our acolytes referred to it as an elephant fight in the context of the Soviet Union-US confrontation and openly asked Pakistan’s rulers not to become involved, but they ignored it, and Pakistan eventually became entangled in the conflict. We pursued the wrong policies in Afghanistan. In fact, for the last few years, it seems that the war has now shifted to Pakistan and the responsibility for this situation lies with the United States, among others, which ignored the elected government and people of Afghanistan during the Doha process and handed it over to the Taliban. In this war, the ANP as a political party made the highest sacrifices and more than 1000 of its workers and leaders were martyred, including the only son of Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Rashid Hussain Shaheed, who was martyred just because he was advocating and interpreting the state and its people as a spokesperson as a provincial minister at that time. I was attacked about four times after 2009, but God had something else in mind. However, after the fall of the government, I was prevented from political and social communication by issuing a record threat alert and, ironically, a pro-terrorist party was brought to power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa three times and the terrorist forces were further strengthened.
Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif
(Spokesperson of the provincial government)
There is no doubt that Pakistan has faced serious security challenges for several decades, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have been affected by this situation; however, the bitter fact cannot be ignored that, in the midst of all of this, the Pakistani state has made many mistakes, and the policies of some important political forces and institutions remain incorrect. A bitter historical fact is that to overcome such situations, states resort to negotiation with opposing parties, a great example of which is in front of us in the form of the Doha Agreement, but when we began the negotiation process with the TTP on the request of the Afghan Taliban under a realistic policy, it was not only severely criticized, but the entire process was thwarted by calling us an ally of the Taliban, among other things. We still feel that Pakistan should pursue diplomacy rather than conflict. Because such tensions and wars can only be resolved via discussion, and many countries have chosen this road to ensure peace.
Mohammad Sadiq Khan
(Former Secretary of the State)
Pakistan’s Afghan strategy has been extremely difficult, with mistrust playing a significant negative influence in the establishment of better ties. Pakistan tried repeatedly to improve relations with Afghanistan rather than with India or other anti-Pakistan groups, but all of these efforts failed, and the foundation for this mistrust and hostility was built in the form of anti-Afghan behaviour shortly after Pakistan’s establishment. Meanwhile, the impression was spread that Pakistan was dealing with this neighboring country under a policy of strategic depth. However, Pakistan’s only desire and effort was to have Pakistan-friendly governments in Afghanistan that would not allow Afghan soil to be used against Pakistan. After 9/11, Pakistan openly supported the democratic governments of Afghanistan and we continued this series of cooperation until the Doha Peace Process, but on the other hand, Pakistan was held responsible for the entire situation in Afghanistan. It is a matter of great regret that even after the year 2021, Pakistan continued to be in the grip of tension, unrest and accusations and the people of both countries were badly affected by this tension.
Shiraz Paracha
(Specialist in International Affairs)
It is impossible to characterize Pakistan’s foreign policy history—particularly its interactions with Afghanistan—as noteworthy or effective in any way. The strategies implemented with Afghanistan, the Soviet Union, and a few other nations under General Zia-ul-Haq As a result, Pakistan’s security issues grew throughout time, even as extremism in the country rose and Pakistan came under scrutiny from the international community at later times. It was said that Pakistan was a country that not only supported extremism but also posed a threat to its neighbors. Pakistan’s circumstances worsened because it showed no interest in attempting to change this perception of itself as a state. Pakistan is still under the control of global proxies, and in addition to external pressure, it is currently dealing with internal political turbulence and turmoil. Despite some reasonably good initiatives of General Asim Munir, the way the crisis was handled following the fall of Imran Khan’s government caused significant damage to the Pakistani establishment.
Senator Lt General (R) Abdul Qayyum
(Defense Analyst)
Given the geographic significance of the region, Pakistan has always made an effort to build positive relationships based on equality with all of its neighbors, including Afghanistan. There have never been ideal and normal relations with the Taliban and India’s negative actions have also contributed to the root cause of this tension. India has used Afghanistan against Pakistan on every occasion under one policy and the latest example of this can be given that after 9/11, when the governments of Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani were formed in Afghanistan, both of them put Indian interests ahead of Pakistan and when the Taliban came to power as a result of the Doha agreement, they adopted a policy of endangering Pakistan’s security by sponsoring TTP and Baloch militants These have never been perfect or typical, and the fundamental source of this tension has also been exacerbated by India’s bad deeds. India has consistently used Afghanistan against Pakistan under a single policy. There is no doubt that Pakistan has been facing security problems due to various challenges for the last several years, but it is no exaggeration that Pakistan’s security forces have the strength and ability to deal with all these challenges. In this regard, we can cite the example of the response to India, Iran and Afghanistan, in addition to numerous successes on the domestic front. Pakistan is not a weak country. It neither faces global isolation nor can it be weakened by internal disturbances.