When Pigs Fly

Saleeem Qamar Butt

This piece is a corollary to “Cross-Border Terrorism: Enough is Enough”, which was published on 28 July 2019. In the CASA re­gion, Afghanistan is never out of the news — sometimes for good but mostly for alarming reasons. The tumultuous history of Af­ghanistan has seldom seen peace for a host of internal and ex­ternal reasons. For well-known geographical and anthro­pological rationales, modern Afghanistan has remained a battlefield for the great powers. Nevertheless, whenev­er the Great Game gave a respite, Afghans’ internal power play always ensued due to sub-nationalist, ethnic, sectar­ian, inter- and intra-tribal feuds. Since 1947, the main fall­out, whether because of foreign aggression or internal strife, has been endured by Pakistan due to porous borders, misplaced ethnic affinity, misuse by religious or sectarian cults, and the finan­cial interests of powerful mafias running a parallel economy by ex­ploiting the most controversial Afghan Transit Trade — besides in­dulging in the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and even humans. With due deference to the brave and hardy common people of Afghanistan, the gladiators’ propensity to be readily available as hired guns to the highest bidder has mostly kept the tribal society in a state of flux.

A quick recap is considered appropriate to keep the discussion in context. In 1979, American strategy to embroil the former Soviet Union in Afghanistan by coercing KSA to provide petro-dollars and by inducing Pakistan to use its military and intelligence services created the “Taliban”, and a so-called Jihad was waged. The Soviet Union col­lapsed in 1991, making the US the sole superpower. Soon after that, the USA abandoned both the Taliban and Pakistan. However, only ten years later, as a new stratagem, the controversial attacks in the USA on 9/11 (2001) occurred. AQ/OBL got the blame while hiding in Af­ghanistan. The USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 along with a coali­tion of more than 60 countries, including NATO and ISAF, and it con­tinued to bleed Afghanistan and Pakistan till 2021, when America found it convenient to abandon Afghanistan — purposefully leaving behind a large quantity of military hardware and bases, which en­abled Taliban factions to take control of Afghanistan. Sadly, Pakistan, without being a funnel for the flow of petrodollars, quickly lost its value to the unelected Afghan Taliban as controversial rulers, who, without any qualms of conscience, knocked on New Delhi’s doors as a new money provider for the services that have been bleeding Paki­stan from the western front with greater intensity since 2022.

While Afghanistan was still under invasion, the US and its allies as­sailed and pulverised the whole of the Middle East, including Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Syria. From 2023 to date, the said coalition has helped Israel to annihilate Gaza with the genocide of thousands of innocent people — which continues despite the farcical peace plan brought about by the very perpetrators. At present, the dream of Greater Israel and the acceptance of the Abraham Accord by coerced, enervated, and meek — though extremely rich — Muslim countries is finally taking shape, with the so-called “Axis of Resistance” no lon­ger visible, having served its purpose. Ironically, the POTUS receives sycophantic recommendations from Muslim leaderships for the No­bel Peace Prize. Mind-boggling events, aren’t they?

From 2001 to 2021, Pakistan was coerced to cooperate with the USA under immense pressure and was consistently blamed for duplicity, as Pakistan continued to provide safe and comfortable boarding and lodging to the Taliban leadership while hosting millions of Afghans for decades. Pakistan played a key role in enabling the Taliban to sit at the negotiation table with the USA, Russia, and China; however, it turned out to be counterproductive as always. The cunning Indian National Se­curity Adviser, Ajit Doval, was quick to outbid Pakistan — besides ex­ploiting the so-called India-based Deobandi nexus with the Taliban — and used Afghan soil and hired guns named TTP, TTA, BLA, BRA, etc., to turn against Pakistan and create havoc, especially in the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Pakistan’s long-awaited effec­tive military punch was delivered to strike the terrorists’ safe havens in Afghanistan a few days ago; yet, it was too early to accept a dialogue re­quest with the controversial Afghan interim set-up — and that too on an exposed foreign soil like Qatar, which was bombed by Israel a couple of months ago. Subsequently, a panicked KSA signed a Defence Agree­ment with nuclear-armed and militarily strongest Pakistan.

Since 1948, Afghanistan has ceaselessly hurt Pakistan, including through the killing of two Prime Ministers at the same place in Rawal­pindi. Millions of Afghans living in Pakistan for decades have plagued the country with drugs, weapons, terrorism, and lawlessness. The hardening of the Pakistan–Afghanistan international border has been achieved through great sacrifices by our brave soldiers in uni­form, and at an extraordinary human, social, and economic cost — which needs further solidification to make it inviolable. Confronted with snakes in the East, scorpions in the West, and hyenas pouncing on and off from our south-western frontiers, Pakistan must ensure impregnable international borders and make violations an extremely deadly affair — leveraging its enviable military capabilities.

With Chinese-like firmness, Pakistan’s leadership needs to bury the useless clichés of Muslim brotherhood, friendship, and neighbourhood, and speak purely in terms of national interest — which is the compre­hensive security and well-being of the Pakistani people. One should ex­pect loyalty and friendship from Afghan rulers only when pigs fly!

Disclaimer: This article was first published in The Nation on October 25, 2025.

The writer is a retired senior army officer with experience in international relations, military diplomacy, and analysis of geopolitical and strategic security issues.