Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations-Third Party Role

Abstract

The trajectory of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations has been inert for the last seventy years. The two neighbors, incidentally Muslims, have not been able to develop a paradigm for a friendly conduct of their bilateral relationship despite the fact that the two countries share a number of potent similarities. This article identifies Afghanistan’s status as multi-ethnic, landlocked and Parentier state, inter alia, contributory factors in shaping the trajectory of Pak-Afghan relations as they have served a determinant in introducing the preponderant role of the third party in Afghanistan’s policy matrix. The two countries need to revisit the traditional trajectory of their interaction and seek a mechanism for developing good relations. Certain provisions of the Geneva Accords 1988 could provide a theoretical framework to this effect. Balancing of internal contradictions approach has been employed to explain theoretically the third party role.