Following a sudden resumption of airstrikes by Paktika Province in eastern Afghanistan which killed at least 10 people including three young cricketers and flattened homes in Urgun and Barmal districts Doha became the next stop for talks. Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif and intelligence chief Asim Malik were dispatched to meet representatives of the Taliban-led government in Qatar, with the aim of de-escalating the situation. The airstrike broke a two-day ceasefire during which Pakistan had requested a truce extension, a gesture rendered moot by the attacks. News of the deaths, particularly of athletes, struck a chord in Afghanistan where the national cricket board withdrew from an upcoming series with Pakistan, and captain Rashid Khan publicly denounced the bombing of civilian infrastructure as “immoral and barbaric.”
This event is important as Pakistan and Afghanistan had just started a ceasefire agreement due to the amount of soldiers and civilians that have been getting killed over the border fights. This ceasefire was a step in the right direction as it stopped the violence and bloodshed. The airstrike by Pakistan ended this ceasefire which broke the truce between the countries and could keep violence trending in the wrong direction. This affects the Region as the border between the two countries is very dangerous and therefore can slow trade routes and international travel. The lasting impact of this event could be another ceasefire agreement. If the talk between Pakistan defence minister and the Taliban government goes well then the countries would continue the ceasefire and stop fighting however the lack of trust between the two countries poses a threat as one could attack again despite the ceasefire agreement which makes the longitude of this agreement miniscule.
Afghanistan can respond to the airstrikes in two different ways. One way they could respond would be to go on the attack against Pakistan. Using their army they could attack Pakistan seeking revenge and proving that they are not to be messed with. The second way they could respond would be defensively. In this way Afghanistan would build up their borders and up their border security so that they would get caught off guard again. Pakistan will respond to this event by trying to prevent a conflict as we saw with them sending a defence official over. Pakistan wants to preserve the peace and ceasefire as they don’t want violence on their people. The last stakeholder is China who will likely try to maintain the peace between the countries as it will slow trade and hurt them economically.
This event connects to International relations through Realism, Liberalism, and The security dilemma. From a realist view we see that both countries act out of fear and self interest using their militaries to protect their country from attacks in an anarchic system. The Security Dilemma is shown as Pakistan strikes that are meant to increase security threatens Afghanistan making them want to retaliate. You see liberal perspective as Pakistan sends defense officials to try and preserve the peace however the lack of trust shows how weak the Liberal theory is as the ceasefire agreement will likely be broken again.