00:00This region in Pakistan has been witnessing wars, terrorist attacks and military operations for decades.
00:08Residents of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have faced the brunt of these conflicts,
00:14which include the war between the former Soviet Union and the Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980s,
00:19the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan and Islamabad's frequent military operations in the area over decades.
00:27Now a new armed conflict is underway. Border clashes between the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistani military.
00:57We both countries want peace. If we come to the common people and ask from them, they will support the peace.
01:04The conflict is not a solution of any problem. It just makes things more worse.
01:08Decades of conflict from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the US war on terror
01:14have destabilized the entire region on the both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
01:20Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harboring militants, especially those belonging to the Pakistani Taliban,
01:47which targets military personnel and civilians inside Pakistan.
01:51Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in Kabul deny these claims.
01:56You know, the history of Afghanistan is that when there is external aggression in Afghanistan,
02:02after Russia, and after 9-11, there is always insurgency.
02:07There is no situation where there is.
02:10Unlike the ruling coalition in Islamabad headed by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif,
02:16Afridi's Pakistan Tahririk-e-Insaf Provincial Government preffers dialogue with the Taliban over military action against them.
02:24Qasim Ali Shah, a local politician, also proposes dialogue.
02:42We ask the leadership, we can ask the local leadership and the responsible persons to come over and sit on the table
02:49and let's discuss, let's discuss the solution, let's discuss the way forward.
02:54How can this terrorism can be managed, how this Afghan issue can be managed.
02:58Islamabad and the Afghan Taliban were close allies in the 1990s.
03:03Some experts say Pakistan supported the Islamist group even after the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.
03:10But their ties worsened after the Taliban seized power in Kabul again in 2021.
03:18Mohsin Davor, a politician and peace activist, told DW that the Pakistani state is still not serious in eradicating militants from the Pashtoom areas.
03:28So there needs to be a sincere effort about dismantling the Taliban project.
03:35Otherwise, there is a very big mistrust on the state among the general public regarding the policies against militants.
03:47They are very much convinced now that the state is not sincere.
03:52They have gone through military operations, they have gone through almost each and every phase.
03:56But things are getting worse, they are not getting better.
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