Pakistan facing 'crisis of its own making' in Afghanistan: think tank

As the Taliban and other outfits begin to consolidate their position in Afghanistan, post US exit from there, experts say that Pakistan is starting to face the effects of the "crisis of its own making."

According to a Canada-based think tank, Pakistan is going through an uncertain phase due to a crisis in the neighbouring country. Its purpose is not to serve as the saviour but as the perpetrator of the gory crisis in Afghanistan, said International Forum for Rights and Security (IFFRAS).

"It was about the American negation to take Pakistan on board with its strategies about the region. Pakistan was the chief proponent in supporting the idea of US withdrawal from war-torn Afghanistan. Relations between Pakistan and the US or China have been seen by experts as a client-patron association," said IFFRAS.

Pointing to the complex problem faced by Pakistan, the think tank said, "For Pakistan, things were not too complex until China became the principal strategic danger to the US with its progressively belligerent economic and foreign strategies. Pakistan is facing a tough time in the management of balancing between two great powers."

"The situation got out of hand for Pakistan when the US exhausted of its Afghan misadventure and constrained by mounting Chinese influence, initiated getting close to India as a long-term natural partner."

Experts in the IFFRAS believe that Pakistan overlapped the limits when it engaged crucially in the Chinese Belt and Road geopolitical initiative as a result of which the linkage of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is viewed sceptically by the US.

Pakistan, which celebrated the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, is now waking up to the realisation that the group's victory is inciting terrorists into an insurgency in its own region, according to media reports.

When Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan applauded the Taliban's victory and said that they broke "shackles of slavery", he was unaware that the outfit's victory in a neighbouring country can trigger militants in his own.

For the weeks, various Pakistan's top leaders and retired army generals celebrated the Taliban's victory so as the militants in Pakistan, as they are sworn enemies of Pakistani generals and the government, reported The Washington Post.

Now, Islamabad is noticing the unrest washing across the Afghan border. After the recent victory of the Taliban, the groups are incited to create an insurgency in Pakistan. The Taliban, not only inspired the militants but also Pakistan's hard-line religious parties that aim to reshape the country in a more fundamentalist Islamist image.

(ANI)