Editorial
Before entering the Kandahar airport building, travelers can be randomly asked for their passport and visa. As one steps out of the car and heads towards the airport, they are directed to a formidable-looking security officer with a stern expression. The officer begins by requesting travel documents from a religious cleric born in Chaman but with extended family ties and businesses in Kandahar. The way the officer handles the cleric’s one-page document, almost betraying a lack of familiarity with it, is quite peculiar. After a prolonged examination, he returns it and proceeds to inspect the passport, meticulously flipping through the visa pages.
After a few minutes of this thorough scrutiny, it’s hard to resist the urge to ask, “What are you looking for?” The security officer glances back but continues examining the passport.
This situation brings back memories of the Ashraf Ghani and Hamid Karzai era when security officials used to subject Pakistanis to additional scrutiny, treating them with suspicion and unfriendly stares. This treatment was almost a routine occurrence, either during entry or exit, where Pakistanis were singled out as the closest “culprits responsible for Afghanistan’s problems.”
Inside the terminal, intelligence officials subjected two clerics from Chaman to an extended “interrogation” session before their flight to Kabul. Upon disembarking from the bus at Kabul airport, an official with a walkie-talkie directed everyone to a specific location. They followed him to his office, where he surprised them with lunch and tea. Simultaneously, he questioned the two clerics about their reasons for visiting Kandahar and Kabul, hinting, “You should not have argued with my colleagues in Kandahar,” suggesting that they had informed him of the incident.
It’s worth noting that not all airports in Afghanistan subject Pakistanis to such uncomfortable treatment, but encounters like these do happen from time to time. Once you establish a rapport with the locals, Afghans are known for their extraordinary hospitality, friendliness, and warmth.
However, the behavior of these security officials seems to have remained constant over time. Whether it’s the mid-1990s or the present, the Taliban’s security apparatus doesn’t seem to have evolved much since August 2021. What drives this indifference, aversion, and occasionally, outright contempt for Pakistan?
As individuals who have traversed Afghanistan extensively since 1987, considering it a second home, there are numerous stories to recount, most of them negative. These stories have contributed to the shaping of the view of Pakistan, a country that is believed to have played a role in two US-led invasions into Afghanistan. These invasions gave birth to the mujahideen and subsequently, the Taliban, both of which were seen as facilitators of Pakistan’s “strategic depth” policy.
The accusation here is that Pakistan benefited financially from the instability in Afghanistan, while the Afghan population bore the brunt, first at the hands of the mujahideen and then the Taliban. Between 2001 and 2021, there was also a fair share of mismanagement and corruption during the so-called “jamhooriat” period. The development in Pakistan is often attributed to the influx of war-related dollars.
This narrative stretches from the Indo-Pak proxy wars to the post-9/11 era, prominently led by President Karzai. The Ghani years saw an amplification of this narrative, with the President himself taking the lead in projecting Pakistan in a negative light, resulting in two significant outcomes: a widespread anti-Pakistan sentiment among the masses and a shift towards favoring India, which embarked on an extensive diplomatic and information campaign worldwide.
The militant campaigns by the Taliban over the years only fueled this sentiment further. Expressing support for or association with Pakistan often equated to “support for the ISI,” instantly drawing suspicion and labeling as an ISI agent.
At the heart of this anti-Pakistan sentiment lies Pakistan’s historical baggage, from supporting the mujahideen to the Taliban. The Haqqani network and its connections with the Pakistani security establishment also played a pivotal role in the Indo-US narrative against Pakistan. Attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul were frequently attributed to and framed as the work of the Haqqanis as part of the information war against Pakistan.
The emergence of Daesh (ISIS) in Pakistan in November 2014 is another factor that many Afghans hold against Pakistan.
Both countries’ officials have a challenging task at hand: how to erase the negativity and mistrust from the minds of their people. Achieving this will require courage and pragmatism in Afghanistan, starting from the top down. Can the Taliban-led regime take the initiative and help dispel the anti-Pakistan narrative, thus paving the way for a more constructive relationship free from the baggage of the past? Only time will tell.
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