The Great Game 2.0: A Pakistani Fabrication

Pakistan brought the Taliban into power, but it was a miscalculated strategic victory. Indeed, the game has just begun.

Introduction

Since the Taliban Takeover, the concept of a second great game in Asia arose. In Pakistan, there were celebrations like a big festival, and GHQ Rawalpindi seemed in hurry to form a government of their choosing. Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed's Serena hotel visit was one part of that rush. Imran Khan even went on to say, "Afghans broke the shackles of slavery." The game has certainly changed now with time as developments have brought some twists and turns. Some players have shifted to other players' interests while some have got busy with other priorities, and few continue to play the game. In this piece, we take a look at Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistan's Miscalculated Victory

Pakistan is now in hot waters. The idea to create insurgency in Afghanistan was driven by Pakistani General Miraz Aslam Beg's concept of 'strategic dept'.  And on the basis of that first, the Afghan Mujahideen and later the Taliban were created. The plan was to use Afghanistan as a pawn in Pakistan's military and economic adventures. Last year, Pakistan signed a ceasefire with India through a backchannel in February just 3 months before the Taliban offensive, and analysts in India predicted that the Taliban would be focusing its capabilities on Afghanistan. 

However, the Taliban takeover soon turned out to be a nightmare for the Islamabad-Rawalpindi nexus. Pakistan for a long time has been accusing India of using Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) to cause insurgency in Pakistan, and India has always denied any of its links with TTP. It is after the Taliban takeover that Pakistan realized that TTP is the brainchild of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan's operation Zarb-e-Azb had broken the backbone of this outfit, however, now TTP seems to be back after a long haul. TTP being a Pashtun Nationalist group does not recognize the Durand Line which is the present Afghan-Pak border. 

TTP has increased its Anti-Pakistan effort in the past few months in leaps and bounds. The Afghan Taliban's border security force even fires 35 artillery shells on Pakistani check posts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for 6 hours. And next day the Pakistani Air Force conducted Airstrikes in the Khost and Kunar provinces of Afghanistan. So, from this, we can easily understand that Pakistan's 'grand plan' has fallen apart. Pakistan already has problems within and on the Durand Line. ISIS's affiliate Islamic State - Khorasan Province (IS-KP) has again started its activities in a big way. Its attacks on Pakistani civilians and Afghanistani civilians have increased a lot. Hence, it seems like Pakistan's Kabul Handbook lacked the analysis of the consequences of the Taliban Takeover.