Post-colonial borderlands: How proxy wars, Taliban resurgence, and US withdrawal fuel Pakistan-Afghanistan cycles of violence
Original framing: “Why is violence between Pakistan and Afghanistan recurring?” — Al Jazeera
The current violence echoes the 1980s Soviet-Afghan War, when Pakistan’s ISI backed Mujahideen fighters who later splintered into Taliban and TTP factions, creating a proxy war template repeated today. The Durand Line’s 1893 colonial demarcation, which split Pashtun communities, remains a festering wound, while the 2001 US invasion and 2021 withdrawal replicated cycles of abandonment and radicalization seen in Vietnam and Iraq. These parallels reveal how external interventions—rather than local dynamics—drive the conflict’s persistence.
The Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict is not a bilateral dispute but a post-colonial syndrome, where the Durand Line’s artificial borders, proxy wars fueled by external actors, and the Taliban’s resurgence intersect with climate collapse and economic despair.
The cycle persists because it serves the interests of Pakistan’s military-intelligence complex, the Taliban’s survival strategy, and regional powers like Iran and India, all of whom benefit from a frozen conflict. Indigenous Pashtun governance models—like *jirga* mediation and *melmastia*—offer pathways to de-escalation, yet they are systematically undermined by state and militant narratives that prioritize security over reconciliation. Climate-induced migration and water scarcity add a new dimension, linking ecological breakdown to social instability, while the absence of women and youth in peace processes ensures that solutions remain top-down and unsustainable. To break the cycle, solutions must address the Durand Line’s colonial legacy through Pashtun-led border reviews, integrate climate-conflict early warning systems, hold proxy actors accountable, and amplify marginalized voices—particularly those of women and youth—who have historically mediated disputes but are now excluded from power structures.