Pakistan and Afghanistan are often bracketed as brother nations, having deep rooted historical links, traditional affinity, striking social fabric similarity, shared religious identity, ethno-cultural bondage, and strategic partnerships, all dating back to pre-partition Indian subcontinent era. Nevertheless, in the post-partition regional dynamics and legacy of issues between the British Raj and Afghanistan, bilateral relations between the two have been wavy, marked by ups and downs; yet the affinity and warmth at people-to-people level have remained generally cordial if not idyllic. After 9/11, US-led international coalition invaded Afghanistan; it overthrew the Taliban government and since then the political face of Afghanistan has been managed through overt coercion and covert machinations. The conflict of interest between the people of Afghanistan and foreign installed Afghan governments is the cause of current mass resentment leading to armed resistance; led by Afghan Taliban. The ensuing trouble casts its shadow on Pakistan in the form of inflow of unarmed benign refugees as well as militants alongside arms, drug and human trafficking. Afghan government has brushed aside many meaningful border management proposals from Pakistan. Post 9/11 bilateral relations have been revolving around serious distrust, blame game, refugee crisis, cross border violation leading to an environment of low intensity hostility towards each other. This paper summarizes the profile of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, identifies the challenges, envisages the prospects and proposes ways for narrowing the gap between existing and desired format of relationship.
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