The Taliban: Our Deccan ulcer?

The bitter truth is that we nurtured the serpent in our bosom. Equally responsible are the Western and Muslim countries, who fed and trained the snake to fight against the Soviet invasion.

In the earlier era of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, Pakistan enjoyed a period of relative ease. The Durand Line was quietly considered the accepted border, and the historical ties between the people living in the tribal belt on both sides of the border continued with the same enthusiasm and zeal.

After 9/11, the canvas changed in Afghanistan. Pakistan was forced to undertake the gigantic task of fencing a 2400-kilometre border that was not easy to chart, the region being highly porous and rugged. The exercise cost us the precious lives of innumerable Pakistani soldiers and also drained the national kitty.

During the US occupation, Pakistan had implicit cordial relations with the Afghan Taliban (TTA). For the same reason, it was suspected and accused of playing a double game, even though it is a fact that Pakistan was at the forefront of brokering peace between the US and the Taliban. Regrettably, the US found an easy scapegoat in Pakistan, on which it quickly transferred the burden of its defeat.

If the triumphant Taliban were over joyous on the eve of the ignoble exit of NATO forces from Afghanistan, they had reason to be: earlier, they had defeated the Soviets, and now, the sole superpower of the world was fleeing. It also emboldened them dangerously in our disfavour.

With the fall of Kabul, Pakistan, in its naivety, believed that the Western border would now be safe. The Ghani regime in Afghanistan had developed extremely friendly ties with India, even though during his exile, he had enjoyed a comfortable dwelling in Quetta.

The frantic exodus of the Afghan people upon the news of the Taliban returning to Kabul should have given us pause. It spoke volumes of the unpopularity of the new barbarian regime. As expected, the first victim soon became the poor women forced to live under their dark shadows.

The ideology of TTP and the TTA is the same: imposing their brand of Shariah all over the world by force. After the Kabul regime change, the TTA continued to fool Pakistan by promising that they would rein in the TTP.

However, it soon became apparent that the TTA and TTP were two sides of the same coin, and therefore considering them separate entities had been a grave mistake of Pakistani policymakers.

Their close nexus was uncovered soon after the TTA...