Pak-Afghan Border Skirmishes and Terrorism Watch

[RescueRanger]

Imo it’s just cope.

Don’t get me wrong, Wakhan corridor is important as it will connect us to Central Asia and Wakhan has many natural resources.

But current Pakistan won’t be able to benefit one bit from Wakhan.
We have energy rich Iran as a neighbour but failed to take advantage of that and instead allow Iran to host anti pak terrorists.
We said Gwadar is game changer but Gwadar is barely connected to the rest of Pakistan and many areas of Balochistan are closer to Iran than the rest of Pakistan.
We built game changer Karakoram Highway decades ago and connected our self with China by land but we fail to use that route to send our products into Central Asia or China. We’ve signed trade agreements many times but didn’t make use of them. https://www.iru.org/news-resources/...traffic-transit-agreement-now-operational-tir
What good will Wakhan make? It’ll take us no less than a decade and billions of dollars to build the necessary infrastructure to start trade with Tajikistan via land. We can’t deal with current levels of terrorism and we expect Wakhan to be Central Asia’s gateway to Gwadar.
If we talk about natural resources, we have Reko Diq mine, Saindak gold and copper mine, Khewra salt mine and many more places but failed to properly use them and instead allowed daylight robbery of our resources in the form of horrible deals with foreign companies and allowing raw product to be shipped abroad where all the value added work happens.

Wakhan is important in the right hands. Pakistan in its current form can’t even make use of what it already has let alone Wakhan. That’s why I think it’s just cope whenever we bring up Wakhan.

The corridor acts as a physical barrier, preventing conflicts and instability from spreading into Pakistan's territory.

Furthermore, it provides Pakistan with a potential gateway to Central Asian markets, improving connectivity and trade opportunities in the region. The Wakhan Corridor plays a vital role in regional stability and cooperation.

Economically, the Wakhan Corridor has enormous potential for Pakistan's energy and trade sectors. The region is thought to be rich in natural resources, such as hydrocarbon deposits, minerals, and precious stones.

Wakhan is also the only part of Pakistan where exploration of mineral wealth has not been conducted since 2009.

 

[RescueRanger]

Back to reality:

Pakistan, Afghanistan make progress on trade, transit in Kabul talks

Agree on beginning negotiations on a revised transit trade pact and implementing a temporary admission document for trade vehicles.

www.dawn.com

 

[arjunk]

We share far more history and culture with you guys than we do with these barbarians. Pakistanis and Indians get along very easily in foreign countries whereas Pakistanis and Afghanis hardly ever get along anywhere.

This is a very Punjab/Bengal centric view of South Asia

 

[Saifullah]

The corridor acts as a physical barrier, preventing conflicts and instability from spreading into Pakistan's territory.

How? Wakhan is all the way in the north. How would it act as a physical barrier against terrorists crossing into Pakistan?

Furthermore, it provides Pakistan with a potential gateway to Central Asian markets, improving connectivity and trade opportunities in the region. The Wakhan Corridor plays a vital role in regional stability and cooperation.

Building a route through Wakhan connecting to Tajikistan would be harder than the Karakoram Highway we built. The areas near Wakhan on our side are already under developed and people living in very poor conditions cuz of underdevelopment.
We already have access to central Asian markets via China: https://www.iru.org/news-resources/...traffic-transit-agreement-now-operational-tir

Economically, the Wakhan Corridor has enormous potential for Pakistan's energy and trade sectors. The region is thought to be rich in natural resources, such as hydrocarbon deposits, minerals, and precious stones.

Pakistan already is rich in natural resources. This is how much shale gas and oil is estimated to be currently in Pakistan:

U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

www.eia.gov

Additionally, we already have Reko Diq, Saindak, and many precious stone mines in Gilgit. We even have a lot of estimated lithium reserves in the north. Why hasn’t Pakistan been able to make use of these resources so far? Saindak has been operating for decades. You’d expect Pakistan to set up proper infrastructure to refine raw ore in Pakistan cuz of how long we had Saindak gold and copper mine running for. Also, how much percent % profit do we keep of that? What about near the Indian border in Sindh? Indians seem to have found massive oil and gas reserves there: https://indianexpress.com/article/c...erve-to-figure-in-dgh-investors-meet-7440181/

Wakhan is also the only part of Pakistan where exploration of mineral wealth has not been conducted since 2009.

And that’s where the issue is and why I call Wakhan a cope. Even where exploration of mineral or resource wealth has happened in Pakistan it hasn’t effected us cuz of horrible corrupt deals or lack of security. What will change that will make Wakhan change our future?

I agree with you Wakhan is important. But my point is current Pakistan is not capable of making good use of Wakhan even if we occupy it from Afghanistan. If our leaders were that competent then Pakistan in its current shape and form has no shortage of natural resource wealth.

 

[RescueRanger]

How? Wakhan is all the way in the north. How would it act as a physical barrier against terrorists crossing into Pakistan?

Building a route through Wakhan connecting to Tajikistan would be harder than the Karakoram Highway we built. The areas near Wakhan on our side are already under developed and people living in very poor conditions cuz of underdevelopment.
We already have access to central Asian markets via China: https://www.iru.org/news-resources/...traffic-transit-agreement-now-operational-tir

Pakistan already is rich in natural resources. This is how much shale gas and oil is estimated to be currently in Pakistan:

U.S. Energy Information Administration - EIA - Independent Statistics and Analysis

www.eia.gov

Additionally, we already have Reko Diq, Saindak, and many precious stone mines in Gilgit. We even have a lot of estimated lithium reserves in the north. Why hasn’t Pakistan been able to make use of these resources so far? Saindak has been operating for decades. You’d expect Pakistan to set up proper infrastructure to refine raw ore in Pakistan cuz of how long we had Saindak gold and copper mine running for. Also, how much percent % profit do we keep of that? What about near the Indian border in Sindh? Indians seem to have found massive oil and gas reserves there: https://indianexpress.com/article/c...erve-to-figure-in-dgh-investors-meet-7440181/

And that’s where the issue is and why I call Wakhan a cope. Even where exploration of mineral or resource wealth has happened in Pakistan it hasn’t effected us cuz of horrible corrupt deals or lack of security. What will change that will make Wakhan change our future?

I agree with you Wakhan is important. But my point is current Pakistan is not capable of making good use of Wakhan even if we occupy it from Afghanistan. If our leaders were that competent then Pakistan in its current shape and form has no shortage of natural resource wealth.

Cope or not cope. It’s a thorn in our side and will remain so until there is a definite Afghan policy. You can take that to the bank.

The rest of your argument whilst carrying some merit is moot.

 

[RescueRanger]

This is a very Punjab/Bengal centric view of South Asia

agreed this viewpoint is unhelpful.

 

[Saifullah]

Cope or not cope. It’s a thorn in our side and will remain so until there is a definite Afghan policy. You can take that to the bank.

The rest of your argument whilst carrying some merit is moot.

Annexing Wakhan will have implications far beyond Afghanistan.
We won’t just need a definite Afghan policy, we would need to sacrifice our claim on IOJK, accept international backlash, take Chinese concerns into consideration, and make a definite Afghan policy.

This is my point about Pakistan making PR disasters everywhere. What we do in Afghanistan or to Afghanistan will be used against us by india to justify their actions.

 

[RescueRanger]

Annexing Wakhan will have implications far beyond Afghanistan.
We won’t just need a definite Afghan policy, we would need to sacrifice our claim on IOJK, accept international backlash, take Chinese concerns into consideration, and make a definite Afghan policy.

This is my point about Pakistan making PR disasters everywhere. What we do in Afghanistan or to Afghanistan will be used against us by india to justify their actions.

I agree with you, but there will always be those who will use this as a crutch in their argument. This is why we need a clear policy on Afghanistan. Which we presently lack.

 

[Developereo]

Wakhan is important in the right hands. Pakistan in its current form can’t even make use of what it already has let alone Wakhan. That’s why I think it’s just cope whenever we bring up Wakhan.

Capturing Wakhan would create a direct Pakistani border with Tajikistan.
Afghanistan doesn't host an Indian Air Force base, Tajikistan does.

 

[Saifullah]

I agree with you, but there will always be those who will use this as a crutch in their argument. This is why we need a clear policy on Afghanistan. Which we presently lack.

Agreed. Lack of clear policy on ALL fronts especially Afghanistan, is the reason why Pakistan is what it is today.

 

[RescueRanger]

Agreed. Lack of clear policy on ALL fronts especially Afghanistan, is the reason why Pakistan is what it is today.

We’ve lacked a policy since the mushy era. Prior to 79 there were no issues between Afghanistan-Pakistan.

 

[Signalian]

Then why after 20 years such people can continue to hit Pakistan with relative ease? You know I'm right accept the bitter truth. Thousands of Pak soliders have lost thier lives because of incompetent tea biscuit Generals.

You need to read a lot about Afghan war, ISI/CIA cooperation, KSA funding madrasahs and the use of trained mujahideen by Pakistan, Lal masjid saga, foreign fighter living in FATA as aliens, the Durand line, the influx of heroine trade and AK culture etc.

Get on it.

 

[Saifullah]

Capturing Wakhan would create a direct Pakistani border with Tajikistan.
Afghanistan doesn't host an Indian Air Force base, Tajikistan does.

How would capturing Wakhan change anything? Are we going to attack Indian Air Force base in Tajikistan by creating airfields in Wakhan? Or do you think creating a land border with Tajikistan will give us leverage over Tajikistan?
Creating a land route to Tajikistan via Wakhan is not easy and not cheap.
We have much larger borders with Iran and Afghanistan but that didn’t stop Indian agents from operating there.
We border IOJK but establishment put Kashmiri resistance on a lifeline.

We’ve lacked a policy since the mushy era. Prior to 79 there were no issues between Afghanistan-Pakistan.

Disagree. We’ve had issues with Afghanistan pre 79. But my point was we lacked policy on all fronts. That means we lack an Iran policy, india policy, Afghanistan policy etc. This is cuz we have ceasefire on LOC while india bleeds us with proxies operating out of Afghanistan and Iran.
Imo our policy for any one of these three countries is tied to our policy with our other neighbours. Our enemies cooperate against us so a policy against all is needed not just one.

 

[Dalit]

Annexing Wakhan will have implications far beyond Afghanistan.
We won’t just need a definite Afghan policy, we would need to sacrifice our claim on IOJK, accept international backlash, take Chinese concerns into consideration, and make a definite Afghan policy.

This is my point about Pakistan making PR disasters everywhere. What we do in Afghanistan or to Afghanistan will be used against us by india to justify their actions.

The Afghans won’t stop fantasising about Pakistani land.

 

[Developereo]

How would capturing Wakhan change anything? Are we going to attack Indian Air Force base in Tajikistan by creating airfields in Wakhan? Or do you think creating a land border with Tajikistan will give us leverage over Tajikistan?

My point was that Tajikistan, which has such good relations with India that it actively hosts an Indian Air Force base, is likely to be much more hostile towards Pakistan.