In their joy at seeing the US defeated in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s military failed to foresee the natural consequences of a Taliban victory
A few days after the Taliban rolled into the Afghan capital in 2021, the head of Pakistan’s powerful intelligence service — sipping tea in a Kabul hotel — told the media: “Don’t worry, everything will be OK.” Four years on, everything is not OK. Dozens of soldiers from both sides have been killed along the two countries’ disputed border, and emissaries are in Istanbul testily hammering out an agreement to step back from further confrontation.