3 min readMar 5, 2026 06:05 AM IST First published on: Mar 5, 2026 at 06:05 AM ISTAs the arena of war widens in West Asia, another conflict has exploded closer to home, one with the potential to destabilise South Asia. The open war between Afghanistan and Pakistan follows months of military exchanges, the deadliest of which occurred in October 2025, over Islamabad’s accusation that the Afghan Taliban harbours militants responsible for attacks inside Pakistan, specifically the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Tensions peaked when Rawalpindi conducted air strikes on February 21 against targets it said were linked to TTP militants, ostensibly in retaliation for recent terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. The Taliban hit back by targeting Pakistani positions along the border, prompting Pakistan to escalate further through Operation Ghazab Lil Haq, carrying out strikes in Kabul, Kandahar, Paktia and Nangarhar.It is true that attacks attributed to the TTP have been on the rise since the Taliban regained control in Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in Pakistan’s northwestern regions. But when the Afghan Taliban retook power from US-led forces after the West’s disastrous 20-year war, Pakistan’s support for the former had played an important role. Operating within its doctrine of “strategic depth”, Islamabad wanted a friendly government in place in Kabul after the American withdrawal, which would serve as a counterweight to India. Structural factors — foremost among them, ethnicity — ensured that matters would not unfold in its favour. The Pakistani Taliban have longstanding ethnic and ideological links with their Afghan counterparts — both are predominantly Pashtun. The Durand Line, for many Pashtun nationalists in Afghanistan, remains an illegitimate colonial inheritance that they do not recognise. Amid increasing border clashes, peace talks between the allies-turned-foes stalled in November last year. With Islamabad concluding that the Afghan Taliban were unwilling to rein in the TTP, dialogue has now given way to conflict.AdvertisementThere is a clear power asymmetry: Pakistan is the far stronger conventional military power. Yet it confronts a militant movement adept in guerrilla warfare, one that drove two superpowers out of Afghanistan — first the Soviet Union, while fighting for various Mujahideen factions, and then the US, as the Taliban. A less costly path for Islamabad would be to give diplomacy another chance and reassess its policies that restrict cross-border trade and economically hurt Pashtun communities on both sides, as well as its hardline stance towards Afghan nationals residing in Pakistan. It will also need to resist the reflex of blaming its security troubles along the Durand Line on New Delhi if it wants a meaningful settlement with Kabul.