Brussels, April 4 (IANS) With Pakistan’s economy under strain and domestic security deteriorating amid a renewed insurgency in Balochistan, the Afghan Taliban appear to be pursuing a long-term strategy in their conflict with Islamabad, prioritising survival and ideological expansion over Qatar or Turkey brokered ceasefires, a recent report has detailed.

“For decades, the Islamabad establishment has played a dangerous game, nurturing the Taliban as a strategic depth agent against India. Today, this plan backfires, and the resulting explosion of violence threatens to send a fresh wave of illegal immigration toward the already strained borders of the European Union,” a report in ‘Brussels Signal’ detailed.

According to the report, the “open war” declared by Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif signalled the end of a 30-year-long held illusion.

“The apprentice has not only left the master. He has now turned openly against him. The March 16 strike on Kabul was the moment masks fell. When Pakistani warplanes hammered a rehabilitation centre in the heart of the Afghan capital, the ‘Islamic brotherhood’ of the two neighbours officially ceased to be,” it added.

The report stressed that Islamabad maintains it is targetting the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), accusing Afghanistan of providing shelter, a claim Kabul rejects.

The outcome is a “cycle of diplomacy-in-name-only”, where the dominant language is that of “air strikes, the AK-47 and the suicide vest” — reflecting reality of the post-American vacuum in Afghanistan.

For Islamabad, the report said, the battle against the TTP represents an existential struggle, while for Kabul, it is about defending the sovereignty reclaimed after 20 years of conflict.

“Neither side can afford to blink. The light of the old order is fading. The era where the Pakistani military could manage Afghanistan like a colonial fiefdom is over. The trust is dead,” it stated.

The report noted that the “special relationship” between Islamabad and Kabul has turned into hostility. Having survived an American occupation, it said, the Taliban may find Pakistan’s aggression easier to withstand.

Emphasising the wider implications of the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, the report said, “Meanwhile, the West is watching a fire it helped light but can no longer extinguish. Brussels, especially, remains silent, paralysed by bureaucratic formalities. But this silence is a luxury we cannot afford. As the Durand Line burns and Balochistan ignites, this regional tragedy heralds a massive surge in illegal immigration toward the EU.”

–IANS

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