What Are the Taliban, Pakistan, and the United States Doing?
By Abdul Naser Noorzad, security and geopolitics researcher, exclusively for Sangar
The modern contradiction between Pakistan and the Taliban is not merely a border or political conflict—it is part of a new American program of managed regional destabilization. Following secret agreements with Pakistan, Washington used the Taliban as a temporary tool within the concept of “controlled instability”—a means to create challenges for the Eastern bloc (China, Russia, and Iran) without the need for a direct military presence in Afghanistan. At first, the Taliban were a strategic opportunity for the United States, but now, as they attempt to act with a degree of independence, they have entered the phase of punishment.
Pakistan, which outwardly appeared to be the Taliban’s ally, is in reality a two-faced player interpreting its interests through the lens of cooperation with Washington. Relying on American intelligence support, Arab capital, and British lobbying, Islamabad simultaneously keeps the Taliban under pressure while using them to maintain influence in Kabul. Today’s “war” between Pakistan and the Taliban is not a real battle but an asymmetric performance: apart from propaganda noise, the Taliban have nothing, while Pakistan—equipped with modern weaponry and backed by the West—retains strategic initiative.
Inside Afghanistan, the artificial security created by the Taliban has turned into a nightmare for themselves. They now fear even their own shadow, born of their own darkness. Society, women, intellectuals, isolated politicians, and even the younger generation—all are potential enemies of this group. Their system is built upon the ruins of freedom and culture and will inevitably collapse under the weight of reality. The Taliban have no trust from the people and no support from any rational power. Today, they are more isolated, faithless, and disoriented than ever before.
Sanctions, diplomatic pressure, and performative international condemnations against the Taliban are merely psychological tools of influence. But the real game will begin when the great powers decide that the Taliban are no longer needed in the regional equation. At that point, they will simply be removed from the political stage and replaced by another force. Even now, the Taliban are in a state of political and legitimate exhaustion—an expended group no longer capable of playing a meaningful role in the grand game.
In reality, the Taliban were never an independent movement. Every one of their decisions—from foreign policy to social directives—was shaped under external influence. This dependency is their fatal weakness. Now, as Washington seeks a new force to recalibrate pressure in South and Central Asia, the Taliban stand in line for elimination—just like many proxy groups before them, once they had fulfilled their missions.
In the end, the Taliban find themselves in a paradoxical position: puppets of global politics on the outside, and hated by their own people on the inside. This group appears strong on the surface, but its power is rotting from within. They imagine themselves victors, but time will reveal that today’s victors are the condemned of tomorrow’s history. And the true punishment will not come from their external enemies—but from the very darkness they themselves have created.
