Pakistan and Afghanistan share centuries of interconnected history, a common culture in most parts of both countries and a long border. Pakistan, throughout troubled history of Afghanistan, has always supported and provided assistance to the Afghani people on humanitarian grounds in the form of food aid, medical assistance and most importantly shelter to the refugees. Since past few decades, Pakistan has paid a huge price in terms of strategic instability due to western insecure borders and huge influx of Afghan refugees to Pakistan. Pakistan has hosted one of the largest refugee populations in the world when it opened its borders to Afghan citizens in late 20th century. Since then, Pakistani authorities along with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other international organizations have worked hard to provide normal lives to Afghan refugee- efforts which have been frequently acknowledge by the United Nations.
Afghanistan is currently undergoing significant strategic shift after the withdrawal of the US and NATO forces which resulted in rapid takeover of the Taliban government. Political and security environment in Afghanistan has become significantly tense due to the presence of various militant groups. Even as Pakistan played the role of a good office in facilitating peace talks between Taliban government in Afghanistan, the Taliban government in Afghanistan now seems oblivious to these facts. Pakistan, continues to face challenges of militancy and terrorism especially from the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) forcing the country to conduct round the clock military operations against terrorist threats.
In May, 2023, to boost mutual ties, and to eradicate menace of terrorism through extensive cooperation; both countries signed bilateral trade agreement. However, the importance that both countries attribute to trade is very different. Where Pakistan’s strategic location makes it advantageous and natural for the country to cooperate with regional allies owing its access to open seas, Afghanistan is comparatively small and land lock country relying on Pakistan for its trade transit and bilateral trade. In the context of geo-economics, Pakistan’s expansion of commercial ties with Afghanistan takes on a somewhat increased significance.
Recently, few events have severely affected the tenuous economic ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan which could result in causing a strategic imbalance between both countries, harming trade and diplomatic relations. On September 11, an Afghani transport truck carrying figs caught fire near Afghan border in Balochistan, resulting in financial losses nearly worth $300,000. Right after the incident, a hype was created on international media notably Indian media outlets that Pakistan army burned Afghan transit truck enroute to India through Pakistan. Indian media called out the incident as, “Tension between Pakistan and the Taliban government of Afghanistan is reaching its peak. The situation is such that a situation of war has been created on the Torkham border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has opened fire on Afghan security forces working at a security post. Pakistan Army has started hurting the business with India to take revenge from Afghanistan”.
Later, an investigation revealed, that there is no evidence that the said truck was going to India and the incident was falsely hyped up to sabotage bilateral relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan by portraying Pakistan Army as a threat to bilateral trade observed through centuries; India has notably remained a major spoiler in Pak-Afghan relation. By using propaganda oriented statements and fake news, India aims to keep Pakistan’s western border
unstable. Pakistani government has indiscriminately supported Afghanistan at different international forums and seeks to build a prosperous Afghanistan which is beneficial for the entire region. With regards to the reality of Pak-Afghan relations, a deeper analysis signifies the need to raise awareness about the perils of fake news and importance of fact-checking.
