On 19 August, as Afghanistan marked its Independence Day with official ceremonies in Kabul, Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi chose poetry and politics to deliver a message. With verses from Rahman Baba, he criticized neighbours, implicitly Pakistan, against “dreaming bad dreams for Afghanistan,” a pointed rebuke that came just days before Islamabad hosts a dialogue of Afghan exiles and activists.
Poetry, Politics, and Perceptions
The timing of Muttaqi’s remarks was telling. They followed a flurry of social media posts by former United States envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who accused Pakistan’s intelligence services of orchestrating the upcoming conference. Khalilzad called the event “hugely unwise” and “provocative,” even alleging Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) involvement in managing Afghan participants. His words struck a chord in Kabul, where the Taliban leadership quickly painted the initiative as part of an ‘Islamabad Plan’ to undermine their rule.
Yet, only a day after Muttaqi’s remarks, he was seated across from Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kabul at the first Afghanistan–Pakistan–China trilateral talks hosted by the Taliban-led government. The gathering, focused on counterterrorism, economic connectivity, and a possible extension of CPEC, was a landmark. For the first time since their takeover, Afghanistan convened such a high-level meeting, signaling both its quest for legitimacy and regional partners’ cautious engagement.
Between Rhetoric and Reality
The trilateral underscored an opportunity: Afghanistan’s desire to pivot from conflict to commerce. Muttaqi spoke of shifting perceptions, of turning Afghanistan into a hub for trade and transit, unshackled from politics. Wang Yi promised Chinese support in health, education, and infrastructure. Ishaq Dar stressed cooperation against militancy and pledged Pakistan’s commitment to stability.
But beneath the rhetoric lies a stubborn paradox. While Kabul criticizes Pakistan against providing space to exiles and dissidents, United Nations reports confirm that the Taliban itself harbours the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and other banned outfits. From funding TTP leaders to allowing training camps in eastern Afghanistan, the evidence of sanctuary is overwhelming. For Islamabad, the irony is unmistakable: Pakistan faces the fallout of cross-border attacks launched from Afghan soil, even as Kabul raises alarms about a civilian conference in Islamabad.
Dialogue, Distrust, and the Road Ahead
This is where realism must temper rhetoric. Pakistan, by facilitating dialogue among Afghan voices, including women and opposition figures, projects itself as a convener of peace rather than a spoiler. Former Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi called the initiative “positive,” arguing that Afghans must be allowed a platform to speak. Islamabad has clarified that the event is academic, not political. To dismiss it as subversion is to deny Afghans in exile the right to engage in their country’s future.
At the same time, Pakistan must tread carefully. As Khalilzad noted, relations between Kabul and Islamabad are marred by decades of mistrust. Every move is read through the lens of history: of interventions, rivalries, and mutual recriminations. If the exile conference is to yield anything constructive, it must be managed with transparency, avoiding the impression of intelligence maneuvering. Dialogue, to be credible, must be insulated from the optics of intrigue.
The Kabul trilateral shows that when regional powers sit together, the possibilities are far greater than the suspicions that divide them. A stable Afghanistan, integrated into regional trade networks, benefits Pakistan as much as it benefits Kabul and Beijing. The extension of CPEC into Afghanistan, if pursued with sincerity, could mark a turning point in South-Central Asian connectivity. But for this vision to materialize, Afghanistan must dismantle the militant infrastructure on its soil, and Pakistan must avoid steps that Kabul interprets as hostile.
In Rahman Baba’s words, “the arrow you shoot at others will return towards you.” Both sides would do well to remember that regional peace is fragile, and every provocation, whether real or perceived, carries consequences. The responsibility lies in restraint, dialogue, and above all, consistency.
