Brandon J. Weichert
The Taliban will need American help to end a conflict that would surely destroy their hold on power. There is only one thing they could offer America in return.
A bizarre conflict has erupted in the ancient, dusty foothills of South Asia—a border clash between Pakistan and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Officially, Pakistan claims that it initiated the conflict due to the Taliban’s harboring of terrorist groups, such as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Islamabad claims there have been multiple unprovoked attacks from Afghan-territory border posts or by militants crossing from the Afghan side, firing on Pakistani posts or security forces. The Pakistani leadership frames its airstrikes and responses as defensive or retaliatory.
Even with news that a temporary ceasefire has been declared between the two sides, in lieu of a more permanent one, the prospects that the two nations will resume fighting are high. This gives a real opportunity for the Trump administration to throw its diplomatic weight around to achieve its own goals for the region: restoring Bagram Air Base to US control.
A Taliban-Pakistan War Is on the Horizon
The Pakistani attacks have given the Taliban an opportunity to deploy the arsenal of weapons that the United States left behind for them in the wake of former President Joe Biden’s humiliating retreat from Afghanistan in 2021. We are about to see if the Taliban are even capable of operating many of the advanced heavy weapons that the Americans inauspiciously left behind for the Taliban to find.
Pakistan’s government says that the strikes are intended to pressure the otherwise recalcitrant Taliban to act against these anti-Pakistani militant groups who’ve found safe harbor within the borders of Afghanistan. But perhaps there’s something more.
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has made mention of his interest to restore Bagram Air Base, once the nexus of all US military and covert operations in Afghanistan, back to American control. Trump’s vision would see the Americans placing a small force inside Bagram and conducting counterterrorism missions against Islamist groups operating inside Afghanistan.
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