In the latest escalation between Pakistan and the Afghan regime in late November, the Taliban accused Pakistan of attacking Afghan territory and killing at least 10 civilians, including nine children.
The militant group proceeded to launch their own strikes along the 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) border with Pakistan, known as the Durand Line.
Pakistan’s military denied the Taliban claims of attacking Afghanistan as “baseless.” During previous bouts of violence, Pakistani officials insisted they were targeting terror groups hiding on Afghan soil.
Even so, the Taliban’s move drew out crowds of supporters in Afghan cities such as Khost and Jalalabad, where residents greeted Taliban fighters with garlands. On social media, videos of Taliban members receiving a hero’s welcome went viral, portraying the group as defenders of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity.
These images come as the Taliban face mounting criticism from abroad for a slew of harsh domestic policies, including sweeping restrictions on women’s education and employment.
A shift in perception?
The clashes, however, appeared to reshape at least the domestic debate surrounding the Taliban. Many Afghan social media users praised the group’s strong response to Pakistan, and even some former Afghan security officials — once fierce opponents of the Taliban — voiced sympathy for their former adversary.
Khushal Sadat, a former deputy interior minister who fought against the Taliban for years, was one of those voices. He argued that the Taliban reacted far more decisively to Pakistan’s attacks than the former Western-backed government ever did.
“At that time, we thought the Taliban were [Pakistan’s] puppets; yes, there were one or two people who accepted their orders, but not all of them were like that,” he said.
Such remarks would have been unthinkable only months earlier, especially coming from a figure known for his staunch opposition to the group before Afghanistan’s US-backed government collapsed in 2021.
Taliban fuel campaign on social media
Bismillah Taban, a security analyst and former Afghan government official, told DW that the Taliban members moved quickly to capitalize on the border clashes.
“Supporters of this group tried to use this situation for whitewashing the Taliban,” he said, adding that many Taliban officials aggressively amplified footage of celebrations.
Despite the perceived wave of public praise, many political experts, including members of the former Afghan government, argue that the Taliban cannot gain meaningful legitimacy through their confrontation with Pakistan.
Mujib Rahman Rahimi, who served in senior official positions in Afghanistan before the Taliban takeover, insists the group’s conflict with Pakistani forces does not involve Afghanistan as a whole.
“The Taliban’s clashes with Pakistan are not the war of the legitimate government of Afghanistan, nor is it the war of the Afghan people with Pakistan,” he told DW.
Taliban seen as Pakistan’s ‘puppet and proxy group’ by ex-officials
Rahimi and other former officials argue that Pakistan helped create and supported the Taliban, so the current clashes reflect a breakdown in their relationship with the group rather than a struggle between nations.
“This is the war of a puppet and proxy group that Pakistan itself created,” he said.
Similarly, Abbas Basir, the former minister of higher education, argues that the Taliban’s actions are driven not by national interest but by the group’s decision to host militants who create instability on both sides of the border.
Specifically, the Afghan Taliban are facing accusations of harboring Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant organization ideologically aligned with the Afghan Taliban focused on fighting the Pakistani state.
“By giving refuge to the TTP, the Taliban have created the conditions for confrontation with Pakistan,” Basir said, adding that ordinary Afghans also oppose the presence of TTP fighters in their country.
The escalation of violence, according to many analysts, offers little hope of provoking political or social change inside Afghanistan.
How did former allies turned into enemies?
Only a few years ago, relations between the Taliban and Pakistan’s military establishment were far from hostile.
In the days following the fall of the Western-backed Afghan government in August 2021, the then-head of Pakistani’s military intelligence General Faiz Hameed was photographed drinking tea in a Kabul hotel while meeting Taliban leaders. At the time, the image was widely interpreted as evidence of Islamabad’s influence over the group.
Today, Pakistan accuses the Taliban allowing TTP members to plan and coordinate deadly attacks against Pakistani security forces from inside Afghanistan. The Taliban deny the allegations, saying they do not permit any group to use Afghan territory to threaten another country.
Tensions peaked in October, following Pakistani strikes on Kabul, with the Taliban fighters then targeting Pakistani border posts and the Pakistani military responding with mortar fire and drone strikes amid a mounting death toll.Both sides then agreed to a ceasefire on October 19 following talks in the Qatar capital of Doha. However, they have not been able to reach a more permanent solution, with the ongoing peace talks undermined by repeated flare-ups of violence.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
