Sharat Sabharwal, former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan, said such flare-ups are likely to persist as no government in Kabul — including the Taliban regime — has ever accepted the Durand Line as the international border.
Speaking to StratNews Global, Sabharwal said Pakistan has long sought to turn Afghanistan into a “vassal state”, but the Taliban’s return to power has instead become Islamabad’s “nightmare”.
“No government in Afghanistan has recognised the Durand Line as the border between the two countries. They believe the Pashtuns on both sides form a single continuum and should be able to trade and travel freely — something Pakistan does not accept,” said Sabharwal, author of India’s Pakistan Conundrum: Managing a Complex Relationship.
He noted that when the Taliban took Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan viewed it as a vindication of its Afghanistan policy. “But instead it has turned into a nightmare because terrorism has spiked sharply in Pakistan since then. The Pakistan government blames Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban for harbouring terrorists of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan on their territory,” he said.
On Friday, both sides claimed heavy casualties as they carried out direct airstrikes inside each other’s territory.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, is driving the current escalation. Though ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban, the TTP operates independently and seeks to overthrow the Pakistani state.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, the TTP has used Afghan territory as a strategic safe haven, straining bilateral ties. An estimated 6,000–6,500 TTP fighters are believed to be based in Afghanistan, launching hundreds of cross-border attacks, including more than 600 in 2025 alone.
“Situation remains fluid … Pakistan has refused, all along, to accept an independent Afghanistan. They want Afghanistan to be a vassal state dependent on Pakistan. Until Pakistan changes that attitude, the fundamental problem will not be resolved,” Sabharwal said, adding that any ceasefire would only be temporary.
On Thursday, Pakistan bombed Kabul, Kandahar and Paktika, while Afghanistan’s Defence Ministry claimed it struck a military camp in Islamabad. China, Russia, Turkey and Iran have urged restraint.
India has, over the past year, sought to normalise ties with Afghanistan and reopened its embassy in Kabul to resume trade and business engagement with the Taliban administration.
“Existence of radical elements in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is not of India’s creation… There are militants of various countries harboured in this region. But India has to deal with the situation because with Afghanistan we’ve had civilisational links,” Sabharwal said.
He added that India is closely monitoring developments to ensure Afghan territory is not again used for anti-India terrorism, as in the 1990s.
“India’s development assistance has been appreciated by the Taliban and the people of Afghanistan… But we have ourselves been victims of terrorism due to Pakistan’s destabilising efforts. So we do recognise the dilemma of the Afghans. This has been a dilemma of earlier Afghan governments too,” he said.
Sabharwal cautioned that rising tensions may limit India’s engagement with the Taliban, but said New Delhi would continue to stay engaged with Kabul.
