Ties have been strained between Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent months, with spiraling mutual distrust and antipathy proving a hindrance toward repairing a relationship critical for long-lasting peace in the region.
Image: DW/H. Hamraz
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"Down with Pakistan," "Down with the Taliban," "Down with Daesh." These chants filled the air outside the Pakistani embassy in Kabul on Thursday when dozens of Afghans protested against Islamabad, blaming it for the latest wave of violent attacks rocking the already war-ravaged nation.
The demonstration was held on a day when Afghan officials said they had handed over evidence connecting Pakistan-based insurgents with a recent spate of attacks that killed more than 100 people in Afghanistan.
"I, as an Afghan citizen, came here today to express my hatred for our neighbor Pakistan," screamed one of the visibly upset female demonstrators who did not want to reveal her identity. "We are tired of this violence and loss of lives each and every day all across the country. We are tired of losing our soldiers on a daily basis. That's why we are against Pakistan, which houses the Taliban and the terrorists," said the woman.
The number of demonstrators was less than expected. Those who participated said many people had stayed at home due to fear of new attacks.
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Roshan Ghaznawi, another protester and activist, referred to the 1990s when Afghanistan underwent a civil war. During this period, she said, many actors involved in the conflict were bankrolled by Islamabad and had their bases in Pakistan.
"The whole world knows the true intentions of Pakistan," Ghaznawi told DW. "They want to recreate the times of civil war when they managed to incite the Afghans against each other. But they should know that these times are over. We do not let our government isolate us and we stand together for peace," she said.
The Islamabad link?
The demonstration was triggered by a string of brutal incidents over the past several weeks, killing and injuring hundreds of innocent Afghans. The attacks and bombings have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
The Afghan government blames Pakistan for these attacks. Afghan officials said Thursday that they had handed "undeniable" evidence to authorities in Islamabad showing the latest attacks were planned on Pakistani soil.
Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, the head of Afghanistan's spy agency, told reporters Thursday it was clear that the attacks were "planned from across the border."
"We asked Pakistan to hand over the culprits of the attacks in Afghanistan and we shared undeniable evidence that the attacks were planned there," Stanekzai said, a day after meeting with top Pakistani officials in Islamabad.
Afghan Interior Minister Wais Barmak said the Afghans submitted a list of questions during Wednesday's "constructive" one-hour meeting, asking among other things what action Pakistan will take against Taliban leaders and training centers on their soil.
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
Image: picture alliance/Photoshot
Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
Image: Reuters/M. Ismail
A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Hossaini
Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
Image: Reuters
Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/B. Smialowski
Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Shirzad
Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
Image: DW/H. Hamraz
Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
Image: Reuters/O.Sobhani
An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
Image: Reuters/K. Pempel
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The Pakistani embassy in Kabul said the information provided by Stanekzai was "being examined for its authenticity." Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif described the talks with the Afghan delegation as "productive," a ministry statement said.
Strong anti-Pakistan sentiment
The Afghan interior minister and the intelligence chief did not seem very convincing, said Yunus Fakoor, an Afghanistan expert. The analyst is of the view that their talks with Pakistani officials will not yield any positive results. It is not the first time that Afghanistan has handed over such information and demanded the authorities across the border to take action.
"Such demands haven't brought any solution in the past and will not bring any in the future," said Fakoor. "The Afghan government is under strong pressure to act. The population is angry and expects a reaction. That's why the government sent a delegation to Pakistan."
The expert described it as "a useless endeavor," and stressed that he sees no rosy future for the Afghan-Pakistan relationship. "Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have never been as bad as they are today," he noted.
Meanwhile, most Afghans are simmering with anger, not only at the impotence of their government to ensure security, but also at what they see as the lack of cooperation from Pakistan to resolve the problem.
"For years, Kabul has tried to make peace with Islamabad and the Taliban," said Ahmad Shah Stanekzai, an activist in Kabul. "But these efforts have come to nothing. Now it's time to cut off all relations with Pakistan. Every day we see how men, women and children are killed in our mosques, schools and on the streets. It is enough!"
Additional reporting by Masood Saifullah andHussain Sirat, DW correspondent in Kabul.
Deportations from Germany to Afghanistan
Mid-December 2016 saw the first collective deportation of 34 rejected Afghan asylum seekers from Germany to Kabul – the first of many. Germany halted the flights in late May 2017, but has now restarted them.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Balk
By the planeload
On September 12, 2017, a flight left Germany's Düsseldorf airport for Afghanistan, carrying 15 rejected asylum seekers in what is the first group deportation to the country since a deadly car bomb blast near the German embassy in Kabul in late May. The opposition Greens and Left party slammed the resumption of deportations to Afghanistan as "cynical."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. Roessler
Fighting for a chance
In March 2017, high school students in Cottbus made headlines with a campaign to save three Afghan classmates from deportation. They demonstrated, collected signatures for a petition and raised money for an attorney to contest the teens' asylum rejections - safe in the knowledge that their friends, among them Wali (above), can not be deported as long as proceedings continue.
Image: DW/S.Petersmann
'Kabul is not safe'
"Headed toward deadly peril," this sign reads at a demonstration in Munich airport in February. Protesters often show up at German airports where the deportations take place. Several collective deportations left Germany in December 2016, and between January and May 2017. Protesters believe that Afghanistan is too dangerous for refugees to return.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Balk
From Würzburg to Kabul
Badam Haidari, in his mid-30s, spent seven years in Germany before he was deported to Afghanistan in January 2017. He had previously worked for USAID in Afghanistan and fled the Taliban, whom he still fears years later – hoping that he will be able to return to Germany after all.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C.F. Röhrs
Persecuted minorities
In January of the same year, officials deported Afghan Hindu Samir Narang from Hamburg, where he had lived with his family for four years. Afghanistan, the young man told German public radio, "is not safe." Minorities from Afghanistan who return because asylum is denied face religious persecution in the Muslim country. Deportation to Afghanistan is "life-threatening" to Samir, says change.org.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Wiedl
Reluctant returnees
Rejected asylum seekers deported from Germany to Kabul, with 20 euros in their pockets from the German authorities to tide them over at the start, can turn to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for assistance. Funded by the German Foreign Office, members of the IPSO international psychosocial organization counsel the returnees.
