Pakistan's dangerous gamble in Afghanistan has left it in perilous state, warns expert

Pakistan has long been blamed for providing support to the Taliban and recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out the possibility of hosting American bases on their soil for military action inside Afghanistan.

While the Taliban continue their offensive against Afghan security forces, Pakistan is undertaking a dangerous gamble in the war-torn country by seeking to cultivate radical jihadist groups in the region, an expert has warned. In an opinion piece, Kelly Alkhouli, a political consultant for The Jerusalem Post, said it is ironic that Pakistan, which has been repeatedly undermining US strategy in the region, has long been viewed as a key ally in resolving the decades-long intra-Afghanistan conflict.

Pakistan’s reluctance to blame the Taliban for rising violence is being seen as tacit support to the insurgents. (Reuters)

“Pakistan’s support of jihadi groups stems partly from cynical realism, in order to expand its sphere of influence in Afghanistan and support the Islamist insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir,” wrote Alkhouli, director of international relations at the Center of Political and Foreign Affairs.

Pakistan has long been blamed for providing support to the Taliban and recently, Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out the possibility of hosting American bases on their soil for military action inside Afghanistan. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Khan argued that Pakistan cannot host American bases as they have “already paid too heavy a price.”

“If Pakistan were to agree to host US bases, from which to bomb Afghanistan, and an Afghan civil war ensued, Pakistan would be targeted for revenge by terrorists again," said Khan.

But Pakistan’s reluctance to blame the Taliban for rising violence is being seen as tacit support to the insurgents. Pakistan foreign minister Mahmood Qureshi said last month that blaming the Taliban for the rise in violence would be an “exaggeration”, suggesting that the Afghan government and the Islamic State should be held responsible for it.

Alkhouli opined that the Taliban is an “independent terrorist organization with fickle allegiances” and Pakistan’s reduced leverage over the Islamist group with the latter’s potential victory in Afghanistan has made Islamabad “increasingly wary”. She warned that the continued violence in Afghanistan will spill over into Pakistan with a mass influx of refugees. She said that the Taliban’s victory would embolden other Islamist groups in Pakistan and Imran Khan’s lack of control over security apparatus could lead to a coup.

“Ultimately, Pakistan’s dangerous gamble has left it in a perilous state, with fewer allies and greater mistrust,” Alkhouli said.