The Afghan Taliban and Pakistani forces have exchanged attacks in border regions since last week. This is not the first time northwestern Pakistan has seen armed conflict, and locals told DW they are fed up with wars.
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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