Explainer | With the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan, does Pakistan stand to gain or lose?

Name: Journalist recounts evacuation from Kabul after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
Uploaded: 2021-08-20T09:30:21.000Z
Duration: 8 min 44 s
Description: Journalist recounts evacuation from Kabul after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

Islamabad has long had a paradoxical role in Afghanistan – accused of providing covert support to the Taliban, while playing a major supporting role in the US war on terror

Experts say it is likely Pakistan will recognise a Taliban regime, though the expectations of Washington and Beijing will shape its decision

Reading Time:7 minutes

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Taliban fighters patrol in Kandahar, southwest Afghanistan. Photo: AP

Tom Hussain

Published: 5:30pm, 20 Aug 2021Updated: 9:26am, 21 Aug 2021

Pakistan’s decision makers have their fingers crossed ahead of an eagerly anticipated speech by Taliban chief Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada that will cast the die for Afghanistan’s political future.

Islamabad hopes Akhundzada’s policy-defining address, expected to be delivered by Sunday, will reassure the international community that the Taliban has evolved from a globally reviled terrorist group into a palatably responsible state actor, according to journalists who this week attended a briefing conducted by Pakistan’s powerful military.

However, Islamabad is also concerned that Akhundzada’s speech could trigger an international backlash against Pakistan because of its long-standing support for the Taliban – particularly from the United States and other Nato members humiliated by the sudden capitulation of the Afghan government last Sunday.

Since then, widespread shock at the ease of the Taliban takeover and heart-rending scenes of Afghans desperately trying to board evacuation flights out of Kabul have focused the world’s attention on the abandonment of Afghanistan by deposed president Ashraf Ghani’s administration, and the handling of the US military withdrawal by President Joe Biden.

At the same time, Pakistan has lobbied the international community – close allies China and Russia in particular – to garner support for collective diplomatic engagement with the Taliban as a means of ensuring that the group keeps its promises to form an inclusive administration, prevent terrorist attacks from Afghanistan, and allow women access to education and employment.

Apart from Afghanistan, “Pakistan has the most to gain from peace in its neighbour and the most to lose from strife and instability”, said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Britain, the United Nations and the US.

“As the situation today is in flux in Afghanistan, it is too premature to say what Pakistan stands to gain or lose. That would depend entirely on how the situation pans out,” she told This Week In Asia.

08:44

Journalist recounts evacuation from Kabul after Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

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