Pakistan's Cross-Border Strikes: Escalation or Echo of US Strategy?
The context they conveniently omitted: Pakistan's recent airstrikes in Afghanistan, purportedly in response to a suicide attack in Islamabad, align with a long-standing pattern of interventionism in the region. This current escalation, targeting Paktika and Nangarhar provinces, follows a trajectory set by the US-led 'War on Terror,' where drone strikes and cross-border operations became normalized
against sovereign states. This is not a new playbook for Pakistan, which was a key US ally in the 1980s, enabling the channeling of arms and funds to Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviet Union. The rationale for these strikes echoes previous justifications for US operations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border regions, often framed as pre-emptive self-defense against non-state actors. Yet, this
narrative neglects the inherent destabilization of such actions, consistently generating counter-insurgency cycles that fuel, rather than quell, violence. For instance, the US military conducted over 400 acknowledged drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and 2018, often with significant civilian casualties, a documented double standard now seemingly employed by Pakistan. The pattern of using
military force across sovereign borders, citing security threats originating elsewhere, carries a heavy historical weight. It mirrors the very justification for military interventions that destabilized regions for decades. This approach rarely resolves underlying issues and often contributes to a spiral of retribution. The international community, often quick to condemn similar actions by