Kabul, March 13 – As the ongoing conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan escalates, several critics have termed it a deliberate ploy by the country's military, which has failed, to create instability in the region in order to divert public attention from the fundamental failures of the government.
Domestic opposition to Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir is growing and becoming increasingly visible. After security forces killed civilians during local protests in Gilgit-Baltistan (PoGB), which is under Pakistani control, slogans of "Death to" were directed at Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Munir, according to an article in Afghanistan's leading news agency, Khaama Press.
"On social media, hashtags such as 'Resign Asim Munir,' 'Pakistan under military fascism,' and 'Boycott military businesses' are frequently trending, with users documenting crackdowns and restrictions on freedom of expression. In Afghanistan, public anger over Pakistani airstrikes has also been pronounced, with demonstrators in multiple provinces taking to the streets to condemn what they describe as state terrorism against a defenseless civilian population," the article stated.
"The military's record over the past two years has been poor, and the active military conflict with Afghanistan has only deepened what critics describe as a deliberate strategy of manufactured instability, designed to divert public attention from the government's more fundamental failures," the author further stated.
February has been ranked among the bloodiest months in recent Pakistani history due to the failure of the country's own security apparatus. On February 6, a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque resulted in the deaths of 36 people and the injuries of 170 others. The bombing occurred after a terror attack in Bajaur, which claimed the lives of 11 soldiers, and also took place in the Bannu area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
These incidents were part of a continuing pattern of security failures that have taken place under Munir's leadership. Instead of addressing these failures, the Pakistani military followed a traditional institutional reflex – manufacturing an external crisis to displace internal accountability, the report highlighted.
"Reports indicated that Pakistani authorities had received advance intelligence of an imminent threat but failed to act. Critics argue that the ongoing security crisis is a direct consequence of the military establishment's longstanding support for jihadist groups, and that while Munir has sought to rhetorically rebrand certain militant outfits, he has simultaneously espoused inflammatory, racially charged rhetoric that reflects his own ideological leanings," the article in Khaama Press elaborated.
"On the night of February 21, the Pakistan Air Force conducted strikes across the Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Paktika, and Khost, claiming to target Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) camps. However, what followed was not a precision counterterrorism operation. It was a military institution performing strength for a domestic audience," the author stated.
The current escalation showcases a shift in Pakistan's approach towards more aggressive military operations in Afghanistan. What analysts have been reluctant to mention clearly is that the military launched those strikes as it could not give answers for its domestic failures. After the bombing in Islamabad, questions were raised over intelligence failure and the army's preoccupation with managing civilian politics instead of fighting terrorism. Through the airstrikes, the establishment created a narrative, framing Pakistan as the aggrieved party fighting Afghanistan-based terrorism, instead of a failing security state not able to protect worshippers in Islamabad, located just 11 miles from Army headquarters in Rawalpindi.