Neutrality Treaty Can Bring the Conflict to an End the Afghan-Pakistan Conflict By Wahab Raofi
Last week, Pakistan launched its deadliest strike on Afghan soil in months. Islamabad says it killed dozens of militants. Kabul says it killed civilians. Both are probably right, and both are certainly angrier. The attack lands against a grim backdrop: Pakistan now leads the Global Terrorism Index as the country most impacted by terrorism, recording 1,139 deaths and 1,045 incidents in 2025 — its worst year since 2013. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan drove that surge, carrying out five times as many attacks as the next most active group and increasing its operations by 24 percent over the past year, almost entirely in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the Afghan border. Islamabad accuses Kabul's Taliban government of sheltering the TTP; Kabul, in turn, demands that Pakistan finally recognize the Durand Line as a legitimate international border. Neither side is bluffing. Neither is budging. But a decades-old pattern of proxy warfare does not require a new bilateral breakthrough — it requires ...