Khan’s victory; future of Kabul-Islamabad ties

Any political change in Pakistan can have an impact on the overall situation of the region, because it is not only a key side in the Afghan conflict but is also an important player in the region. As a landmark political change, the recent general elections in Pakistan will affect both Afghanistan and the wider region one way or another. As expected, former international cricketer Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party won Pakistan’s general elections. Although other major political parties have described the election as fraudulent, a boycott of election results by all parties does not seem very realistic. Therefore, Imran Khan is most likely to form a coalition government with another political party, since his party has failed to secure at least 137 seats required to establish a single-party government on his own.
In victory speech declaring himself the new prime minister of Pakistan, Khan’s statements about Afghanistan were positive, insisting that he favored open borders with Afghanistan. He also billed Afghanistan as a country suffered from terrorism more than any other country. The former cricketer has also said that stability in Pakistan was linked to stability in Afghanistan, promising his full support for Afghan peace. Sometimes called in the media as “Taliban Khan”, Imran Khan’s statements about Afghanistan were against expectations. More recently, he has called for a complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. One of the persistent problems in Afghan-Pak relations is the dichotomy between Islamabad’s words and actions. The former Pakistani government also considered security in Afghanistan important for security in Pakistan but in reality, it was backing, and still backs groups that are carrying out disruptive activities in Afghanistan. Similarly, it was publicly saying that it was trying to facilitate peace talks with the Taliban, but in fact, it was detaining Taliban leaders it suspected were trying to hold peace talks with Afghan government. There are many examples of Pakistan’s duplicitous behavior towards Afghanistan.
Islamabad’s promises with Kabul have mostly remained on paper, so there is no progress in sight. If the Imran Khan-led government manages to honor the promises made by Pakistan with Afghanistan, the situation is expected to improve. However, if the new administration hands over its foreign policy to the military, as the likelihood is very high, and that the military also does not change its policy towards Afghanistan, not only will things not improve, but will also further deteriorate under the new leadership.