New Delhi, Sept. 27 -- After returning to power in Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban's relations with Pakistan underwent a significant deterioration. The reason being deep-seated grievances among the Taliban leadership, who allege that Pakistan manipulated them to fulfil its geopolitical interests, including the ambition to control Afghanistan as a subservient nation and augment its strategic depth.

Pakistan harboured reservations against the Taliban's nationalist sentiments, fearing they might reawaken Greater Pashtunistan, an issue Pakistan believed it had successfully relegated to the annals of history and forgotten. The ideological allure of the Taliban's governance model among extremists' schools of thoughts in Pakistan may have adde...