4 min readMar 3, 2026 06:03 AM IST First published on: Mar 3, 2026 at 06:03 AM ISTKhawaja Asif, Pakistan’s defence minister, has said that his country is in the midst of an “open war” with Afghanistan because its patience has run out due to terror attacks from Afghan soil. Is war a solution to Pakistan’s problems with Afghanistan? Has the Pakistani establishment forgotten that Afghanistan has been the graveyard of empires? Irony also died a thousand deaths when Pakistan expressed impatience with terror attacks against it.At the core of the crisis is Pakistan’s perennial desire to turn Afghanistan into a vassal state. The Taliban’s victory in Afghanistan, hailed in Pakistan as a vindication of its policy, has turned into a nightmare. No longer dependent on Pakistan, the Taliban has charted an independent path. It does not recognise the Durand Line. Pakistan accuses it of providing sanctuary and support to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Taliban denies the charge — it describes the TTP as Pakistan’s internal problem, and accuses Islamabad of harbouring terrorists of its nemesis, the Islamic State-Khorasan Province. Afghan hostility compounds Pakistan’s challenge in its volatile tribal belt.AdvertisementPakistan has resorted to restrictions on the transit trade of landlocked Afghanistan, expelled a large number of Afghans and carried out periodic airstrikes in Afghanistan. Its hopes of exploiting fissures within the Taliban have been belied. The ongoing hostilities are the second, though more intense, major flare-up between the two countries in four months. Hostilities broke out in October last year following Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan, but they ceased as a result of the efforts of friendly countries. However, the two sides failed to build upon the ceasefire. The trigger for the latest flare-up was provided yet again by Pakistan’s airstrikes in Afghanistan close to the Durand Line, allegedly against militant hideouts. The Taliban said the attack had killed a large number of civilians. This was followed by a Taliban offensive against a large number of Pakistani posts in the border area. Pakistan upped the ante by launching Operation Ghazab lil-Haq and carried out airstrikes on targets in Kabul, Kandahar and some other areas.An all-out military conflict is not in the interest of either party. Pakistan can cause considerable damage from the air, but cannot hope to succeed where the Soviets and US-led NATO forces failed. It is up against a very resilient foe. The Taliban would prefer to avoid extensive attrition from the sky. But they have lived with extreme adversity, and so has Afghanistan for over 40 years. If the situation escalates, they would put up a fierce fight rather than yield ground. Not a military match for Pakistan, their preference would be for covert operations and guerrilla tactics.There have been calls for restraint from the international community. Apprehensive about the threat to its CPEC stakes, China tried its hand at mediation in the past, but failed. The Americans have leaned towards Pakistan. The US under secretary of state for political affairs has offered condolences for the lives lost, adding that his country would continue to monitor the situation closely and support Pakistan’s right to defend itself.AdvertisementIndia has strongly condemned Pakistan’s recent airstrikes in Afghanistan and reiterated its support for Afghanistan’s sovereignty. Radicalisation and instability in Afghanistan and Pakistan have resulted from the internal dynamics of these countries and the short-sighted policies of major powers. India, however, has to deal with the consequences. Besides its civilisational links with the Afghan people, India has also remained their partner in development and against Pakistan’s attempts to subjugate them. With the bad memory of the 1990s, when Pakistan used Afghan territory to engineer terror against it, India can not afford to cede strategic space in Afghanistan to hostile forces. Therefore, it has acted pragmatically to upgrade its engagement with the Taliban government. The situation in the Af-Pak belt remains volatile, and India will have to remain nimble-footed.Sabharwal is India’s former high commissioner to Pakistan and author of India’s Pakistan Conundrum: Managing a Complex Relationship.