The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Asif Durrani, Pakistan's former special envoy for Afghanistan, said Saturday that Afghanistan's long-running crisis cannot be attributed to a single country, arguing that Afghan political leaders, warlords and their international backers share responsibility for the country's instability.
In a post on X, Durrani said Afghanistan did not become
"a paradise" after the Taliban seized Kabul in 2021 and was not a
success story before their return to power.
"Millions still struggle with poverty, restricted
freedoms, and an uncertain future," he wrote.
Durrani said Pakistan should be criticized where warranted
but rejected what he described as attempts to hold Islamabad solely responsible
for Afghanistan's problems.
He argued that two decades of international engagement
failed to build durable institutions or establish a stable political order in
Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan's tragedy cannot be reduced to a single
scapegoat," Durrani wrote. "Blaming Pakistan for every Afghan failure
is intellectually dishonest. Afghanistan's tragedy has many authors."
His remarks come as relations between Pakistan and
Afghanistan remain strained, with Islamabad repeatedly accusing the Taliban
government of failing to prevent militant groups from using Afghan territory to
launch attacks inside Pakistan—an allegation the Taliban deny.
