When it Thunders in Afghanistan, it Rains in Pakistan.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have been sharing bilateral relationships since the birth of Pakistan in 1947 because both share the common legacy inherited from the pre-partition era but these ties have never been stronger enough. Though both of these countries have many important aspects in common based on ethnic, political, cultural, and religious beliefs, still the relationship between the states has always been topsy-turvy for a long. Since the creation of Pakistan, the crisis of Afghanistan has been affecting Pakistan in one way or the other i.e. minor attacks at Pakistani territories situated near the border, the migration of Afghani masses due to the war-torn circumstances in Afghanistan, Taliban’s havoc being played in both Afghanistan and Pakistan taking the lives of millions of innocent people and the contemporary Afghan politics related to the withdrawal of western forces. Pakistan has never been in the good books of Afghanistan depending upon a lot of political reasons and the issue of the Durand Line is the most prominent among them, giving birth to a lot of other conflicts, that would be discussed below:

First, it should be kept in view that the Durand Line is an international borderline between Pakistan and Afghanistan that was chalked in 1893 and the pact was signed between the Afghan king Abdur Rehman Khan and British Secretory Mortimer Durand. Afghanistan has always been negating this divide labeling it as unfair and unjustifiable. Afghan leaders have raised certain objections against this divide claiming that the agreement was expired soon after the death of King Abdul Rehman. Some say that the agreement’s period has been expired and many believe in the fact that as it was a pre-partition agreement, it got nullified soon after the British have transferred powers to Pakistan. Thus, based on this biased outlook towards Pakistan, the first instance of the adversary was witnessed at the time when Pakistan requested to join the United Nations. Afghanistan was the only country that voted against the participation of Pakistan, though the vote was nullified.

Secondly, In the light of contemporary socio-political circumstances of Afghanistan where it is obvious that the USA has finally decided to put an end to the years-long war against Afghanistan by calling its armed forces back to the country. Now, the political situation of Afghanistan seems to stand on the verge of a bigger disaster that is anticipating a civil war.

Moreover, looking back into the year 2001, when the four coordinated plane crash destroyed the World Trade Centre of USA caused the world’s biggest economical loss of 40 billion dollars (about $120 per person in the US). In the wake of this disastrous loss, the USA invaded Afghanistan due to the ultimate suspicion falling upon AL-Qaeda, an Afghan terrorist group led by Osama Bin Laden. As US forces dethroned the Taliban who were ruling Afghanistan at that time thus stimulating the group to turn into an eternal rival.

In the context of this most important political event of Afghanistan’s history, it has been conjectured that the withdrawal of US forces after 21 years would create a shattering political atmosphere in Afghanistan. Because it is obvious in terms of the forced overtake of the Afghan Government by the USA’s armed forces that now the stage is bare for all the Afghan political and ethnic sects who want to rule Afghanistan for the last 22 years. Hence, these tremulous and shattering socio-political circumstances are sure to affect neighboring countries like Pakistan too.

Thirdly, It is a bitter reality that the ties between the countries could never be seen cordial due to these varied reasons say if it is the Durand Line’s disagreement or the Taliban’s attacks over the Pakistani territories alongside the border. But the rulers of both countries should ponder over serious lines because both states are interdependent. In the challenging times of both the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-1989) and the US-Afghan war, countless people have migrated to Pakistan in search of shelter and sustainable life and Pakistan has always provided them with it. Pakistan has also been trying to maintain peaceful relations with Afghanistan as in contemporary situation, Pakistan is striving to persuade the Taliban to discuss their demands peacefully but it seems that they are not interested in peacemaking pertaining to rising Afghan offensives. Moreover, Pakistan has also built several check posts along the border to ensure the prohibition of illegal opium trafficking across the borders but Afghanistan has never encouraged Pakistan in its peace-promoting projects. Thus, it could be summed up on a point that both countries are interdependent to maintain peace not only in their respective regions but to promote peace in entire South Asia.

Another principal factor is that Afghanistan is a landlocked country highlighting the fact that it has no coastal routes to trade with other countries, thus making it dependable on Pakistan’s ports. Afghanistan should keep in its mind the fact that it is reliant on Pakistan to continue the trade of its goods with other states thus it should always try from its side to maintain peaceful cordial relations with Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan has given shelter to approximately 2.5 million refugees who have migrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan due to unemployment, insecurity, and political instability in Afghanistan. Thus, it could be seen that Pakistan has been playing its part to maintain relationships with the neighboring country for so long.

In the end, Pak Afghan ties could be observed from two lines moving parallel to each other, one of them is state-to-state relationships and the other is formed by people-to-people relationships. The state-to-state relationships have been discussed in detail in the above-written paragraphs thus considering the people-to-people relationship, it could be observed that the masses of both countries relate to a larger extent to each other due to the ethnic, cultural, and religious similarities and the glorified past they have shared in pre-partition times. More than 2500 people cross the border daily which highlights the shared cordiality of masses of both countries thus assuring against any serious derailing of bilateral relationships. Hence, the People of both states seem to be highly welcoming to each other regardless of the political conflicts of their governments.

In the light of all the above factors, it could be concluded that Pakistan and Afghanistan need to consider the loopholes and try mutually to improve their relationships. Not only Afghan’s upheavals have affected Pakistan but Pakistan’s changing atmosphere will affect Afghanistan too because they are neighboring countries. In the past, most of the imminent leaders have been highlighting this fact as former Afghan President Hamid Karzai (in office 2004–2014) has described Pakistan and Afghanistan as “inseparable brothers”. Furthermore, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also commented that “enemies of Afghanistan cannot be friends of Pakistan.” Thus, it is high time for both states to think over past mistakes and work on the common interests keeping in view that peace of one state is inevitable to maintain peace in another.