Pressure On Pakistan As Taliban Advances in Afghanistan

While Pakistan is under rising analysis as the Taliban seize cities and townships in Afghanistan, the strain on Pakistan is increasing.

The New York Times's Emily Schmall said that the United States and others urge Pakistan to push more for peace. There's a large portion of Pakistani society that believes a Taliban triumph is inevitable.

As a refuge for the Afghan Taliban, Pakistan has acted as a safe haven for decades. In Pakistan, Taliban militants keep houses and families at a safe distance from the battlefields, according to the government's acknowledgement.

Although the administration of Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed its support for a peaceful settlement on a global scale, it has been quieter at home. It hasn't condemned pro-Taliban demonstrations in Pakistan. "It hasn't denounced alleged Taliban crimes," Schmall argues.

South Asia specialist Elizabeth Threlkeld of the Stimson Center in Washington stated, "Pakistan is truly in a dilemma." When it comes to spillover violence and refugees, Pakistan wants to keep the Taliban on its side.

Despite Pakistani authorities' denials, they say that during the Doha, Qatar discussions, they pushed hard for peace talks with the Taliban.

'Afghanistan would become a pariah state if the Taliban seize it by force,' they said in public, according to The New York Times.

Although Taliban commanders are allowed to enter and exit Pakistan, Schmall believes Pakistan remains a safe haven for combatants as well as a place for their families to obtain medical attention.

The Taliban attack was accused by some opponents, mostly in Afghanistan, of being actively supported by Pakistan. They said that the terrorists could not have launched such a huge effort without assistance.

In a recent interview with The New York Post, US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad said that Pakistan had a special responsibility because of the large number of Taliban leaders living within its borders and that Pakistan would be "judged internationally" on whether it was seen to have done everything it could in order to promote a political settlement in Afghanistan.

A diplomatic cost has resulted from Pakistan's accommodation of the Taliban. India, which now chairs the United Nations Security Council, claims that Pakistan continues to provide logistical, technical, and financial assistance to the Taliban.

Ashraf Ghani, Afghanistan's president, said during a conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last month that 10,000 jihadis had come from Pakistan to join the attack.