Islamabad, Pakistan – When Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Overseas Minister Ishaq Dar landed in Kabul on April 19 for a daylong go to, it marked the primary main journey by a senior Pakistani official to Afghanistan since February 2023.
Dar’s go to got here simply days after senior navy and intelligence officers from each nations had met in Kabul for the primary time since January 2024.
These conferences comply with months of strained relations between the neighbours amid frequent border skirmishes, Pakistan’s resolution to expel Afghan refugees, and repeated border closures which have disrupted enterprise and commerce.
Dar’s journey, say analysts, alerts a willingness from either side to reset ties via diplomacy.
In keeping with Pakistan’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs, Dar met Afghanistan’s interim overseas minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi. The 2 leaders held discussions on “safety, commerce, transit, connectivity, and people-to-people contacts”.
The assertion from the Afghan Overseas Ministry, nevertheless, didn’t point out safety issues and targeted on points comparable to “scenario of Afghan refugees, political relations, financial cooperation, commerce, transit, large-scale joint initiatives, and different issues of mutual curiosity.”
At a information convention in Kabul following his assembly with Muttaqi, Dar mentioned Pakistan has invited Afghan officers to Islamabad and known as for open communication channels to resolve disputes between the 2 nations.
“We now have requested our hosts that now we have to work collectively for the progress, betterment and peace and safety of the area. For that, neither will we enable anybody to make use of our soil to conduct illicit actions in Afghanistan, nor will you enable anybody to make use of your soil,” Dar mentioned.
Safety issues after 2021
For the reason that Taliban took management of Afghanistan in August 2021 after the USA withdrew its troops, Pakistan has witnessed a pointy enhance in violent assaults, notably within the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern province of Balochistan, each of which share borders with Afghanistan.
Islamabad has repeatedly alleged that Afghan soil is being utilized by armed teams, particularly the Pakistan Taliban, identified by the acronym TTP, to launch attacks throughout the porous border.
Pakistan Taliban, based in 2007, is ideologically aligned with the Taliban in Afghanistan however operates independently. The Taliban has repeatedly rejected allegations that it permits its soil for use for assaults towards Pakistan, and has constantly denied any ties with the TTP.
Knowledge from the Pak Institute For Peace Research, an Islamabad-based battle analysis organisation, reveals that Pakistan skilled 521 assaults in 2024, a 70 % enhance from the earlier 12 months.
These incidents claimed 852 lives, a 23 % rise, with 358 of these killed being regulation enforcement personnel. Many of the violence occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
As soon as seen as a benefactor of the Taliban, Pakistan has cited the uptick in violence as the primary motive for its crackdown on a whole bunch of 1000’s of Afghan refugees, lots of whom have lived within the nation for many years.
Pakistan has hosted tens of millions of Afghan refugees because the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, welcoming a number of waves of displaced folks as battle continued within the nation.
Following the 9/11 assaults and the following US invasion of Afghanistan, 1000’s of Afghans returned residence. Nevertheless, the Taliban’s dramatic return to energy in August 2021 prompted one other wave of displacement, with between 600,000 and 800,000 folks looking for refuge in Pakistan.
For the reason that expulsion programme started in November 2023, almost one million Afghan nationals have been pressured to return, with the Pakistani authorities declaring that it could proceed its repatriation drive.
World rights organisations, in addition to the Afghan authorities, have urged Pakistan to rethink the choice and make sure the dignity of these being deported.
Revival of diplomatic ties?
Regardless of rising hostilities between the 2 nations, together with Pakistani air attacks on Afghan soil in December that killed at the least 46 folks, analysts see Dar’s go to as “important” and suggestive of a broader resumption of dialogue.
Iftikhar Firdous, co-founder of The Khorasan Diary, a portal that tracks regional safety points, identified that this was the highest-level go to from Pakistan to Kabul since former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s journey in November 2020.
“The go to by Dar included discussions on safety, ease of enterprise for merchants, and continued conversations on cross-border points,” Firdous advised Al Jazeera.
The Islamabad-based analyst added that the latest assembly between navy and intelligence officers signifies that backchannel efforts to resurrect diplomacy had been beneath manner even earlier than Dar’s journey.
“It was not a begin, however as a substitute a fruits of the agenda to re-engage with Afghanistan and break the ice,” he mentioned.
Amina Khan, director of the Centre for Afghanistan, Center East and Africa on the Institute of Strategic Research Islamabad (ISSI), mentioned either side look like searching for methods to accommodate one another’s issues.
“For Pakistan, it’s safety, and for Kabul, it’s commerce. Nevertheless, since each are intertwined, a complete bilateral method is required. This journey seems to have initiated a dialogue. One should see if either side can keep the constructive momentum,” she advised Al Jazeera.
Khan added that Pakistan recognises the significance of Afghanistan to its personal stability.
“Pakistan realises that, to be able to obtain this, workable ties with Kabul are paramount, however on the similar time it’s pivotal for Kabul to handle Pakistan’s safety issues emanating from the TTP,” she mentioned.
A United Nations report [PDF] revealed in February concluded that the Taliban continued to supply logistical, operational and monetary help to the TTP. It added that the armed group has arrange new coaching centres in border areas close to Pakistan.
In response, Zabihullah Mujahid, the Afghan authorities spokesperson, denied the allegation, calling it a “common slander” towards the nation.
“The stance of the UN is misused. We name on the nations who’re members of the UNSC however have good relations with Afghanistan to not enable the repute of the group to be harmed,” Mujahid mentioned in February.
On the identical web page?
Khan of ISSI mentioned the Taliban faces its personal challenges whereas coping with armed teams just like the Pakistan Taliban.
“Pakistan understands the constraints of the Afghan Taliban in taking motion towards the TTP, who might very nicely be part of the ranks of so-called ISIS [ISIL] and take up arms towards the federal government,” she mentioned.
In the meantime, the Taliban has pressured that the Afghan authorities is sad concerning the eviction of a whole bunch of 1000’s of Afghans by Pakistan.
Elevating the difficulty of their pressured repatriation within the assembly with Dar, Minister Muttaqi pressured the necessity for humane therapy and urged Pakistani authorities to guard the rights of Afghan nationals at present residing in Pakistan or coming back from there.
The Pakistan Overseas Ministry assertion, in the meantime, targeted on the nation’s safety issues.
“The Deputy Prime Minister emphasised the paramount significance of addressing all pertinent points, notably these associated to safety and border administration, to be able to totally realise the potential for regional commerce and connectivity,” the ministry’s assertion learn.
Nonetheless, Khan, the analyst, mentioned she believes that Dar’s go to has damaged the ice. Now, the important thing might be to “stay engaged” and pursue a holistic method to bilateral relations, she mentioned.
“Whereas safety is an important facet, it shouldn’t be the only real focus. Different facets, comparable to diplomatic, financial, and cultural cooperation, should even be thought-about to construct a balanced and sustainable partnership,” Khan mentioned.
