Nazir Hussain and Muhammad Najam-ud-Din Farani
Dr. Nazir Hussain is Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, and Muhammad Najam-ud-din Farani is an independent security analyst based in Lahore.
DOI: http://DOI Number
Keywords: South Asia, Security environment, Afghan, Indo- Pakistan, security dilemma, transit, Central Asia, Talibanization, US, nuclear powers, withdrawal
Abstract
In today’s South Asian security climate, Afghanistan presents a difficult opportunity for Indo-Pakistan ties as a make-or-break avenue for peace and stability, both bilaterally and regionally. Given the ethnic, political, military, economic, and religious fault lines in Afghanistan, the Indo-Pakistan rivalry, fueled by mutual traditional antagonism and chequered past, has resulted in the re-emergence of proxy conflict within Afghanistan. Pakistan’s “security conundrum” and India’s goal of great-power status interact with the regional cross-purposes of other states. As a result of each state having its own endgame, there has been a regional conflict of red lines within Afghanistan. The competing Indo-Pakistan interests within Afghanistan span from their separate zones of influence in Kabul to Afghan transit trade routes to Central Asia and opposing Talibanization, which endangers regional peace and security. It also incorporates the role of other state actors, particularly Iran from West Asia and China from South-East Asia. This research study hypothesises that the Indo-Pakistan conflict will continue inside Afghanistan in the future, threatening regional peace, stability, and progress. It addresses this deduction on the basis of India and Pakistan’s narrowing and broadening of cross-purposes within Afghanistan and beyond; Afghanistan’s inability to balance its relationship with both of these countries; and how the Central Asian security dynamics affect the South Asian security complex, and above all, the implications of US withdrawal strategy from Afghanistan on the competition of two South Asian nuclear powers inside the Afghan quagmire.
First Published
March 25, 2014
How to Cite
Nazir Hussain and Muhammad Najam-ud-Din Farani, “Afghanistan as a Factor in Indo-Pakistan Relations,” Regional Studies 32, no.2 (Spring 2014): 51-71, https://regionalstudies.com.pk/wp/article/afghanistan-as-a-factor-in-indo-pakistan-relations/
Issue
Volume 32, Issue 2