Has Pakistan profoundly misjudged the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, by expecting its support in the war against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)? What about the other point that the Pakistan Army can sort out the TTP in fairly short order but for whatever reason, is holding its hand?
Aishwaria Sonavane who runs the Pakistan studies programme at the Takshashila Institution in Bengaluru, argues that Islamabad’s issues with the Taliban are the same or similar issues it had with previous Afghan governments.
“The Durand Line, or the questions of sovereignty, and of course, Pakistan’s enduring sensitivities regarding Afghanistan’s external partnerships,” these issues are of long standing and reflect profound strategic misjudgment by Pakistan.
In a conversation on The Gist, Sonavane said that for Pakistan to believe that the Afghan Taliban would fundamentally realign their priorities to act against the TTP, was deeply flawed.
“This distinction that Pakistan made between the so-called good Taliban and bad Taliban has definitely proved unsustainable. But this is something you can fault the Pakistanis for repeatedly, isn’t it? They have always failed to gauge the strategic goal or prize time and again.”
This would appear odd given that the people Pakistan is dealing with in Kabul are no different from its own ethnic Pashtuns in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But Islamabad seems to think that just as it is managing the Baloch problem, the Pashtun problem is something to be “managed” also to ensure they stay down.
That brings us to the next point: there seems little doubt the Pak Army can sort out the TTP if it wants to. But for some reason it does not. Why?
Sonavane argues that “The Pakistani military wants this issue to go on. Of course it doesn’t want the TTP to become a huge security threat. But with the TTP issue going on, it gives the Pakistani military a reason to be involved in Pakistan’s affairs.
Tune in for more in this conversation with Aishwaria Sonavane, manager of the Pakistan Studies programme at the Takshashila Institution.
