Degree
BS (Social Sciences & Liberal Arts)
Faculty / School
School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)
Department
Department of Social Sciences & Liberal Arts
Date of Award
Spring 2024
Date of Submission
2024-09-14
Advisor
Professor Yumna Fatima, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences
Committee
Dr. Sajjad Ahmad, Lecturer, Department of Social Sciences
Project Type
SSLA Culminating Experience
Access Type
Restricted Access
Keywords
Pakistan's Good Taliban/Bad Taliban Policy, Afghan Taliban (TTA), Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Neoclassical Realism, Bureaucratic Politics
Abstract
Pakistan’s Good Taliban/Bad Taliban approach in the post-9/11 era allowed it to deal with various pro-state and anti-state militant elements in the country, particularly the Afghan Taliban (TTA) and Pakistani Taliban (TTP). This policy assisted Islamabad in addressing TTP terrorism by conducting counterterrorism operations that eventually led to the decline of the organisation in 2017. Similarly, it allowed Pakistan to support the TTA and provide them with political and economic aid to build them into a useful strategic partner that would meet Islamabad’s strategic concerns regarding Afghanistan. However, contrary to Pakistan’s expectations, the re-emergence of the TTA as the rulers of Afghanistan in 2021 has led to the rise of TTP and an increase in terrorism in Pakistan. Thus, this thesis aims to understand why Pakistani civil-military bureaucracy considered this policy as an appropriate strategy to deal with the TTP and their ideological brothers, the TTA. The neoclassical realism and bureaucratic politics assessment of Pakistan’s good Taliban/ bad Taliban policy elaborates on the role of different systemic and domestic factors that compelled the policymakers to embrace this policy. It also explains how some policies while considered appropriate for managing the prevailing threats and opportunities may also create strategic miscalculations, like the resurgence of TTP. In addition, it discusses the effects of TTP resurgence on relations between Pakistan and TTA and how to restore these strained relations. To conclude, this paper fills the existing gap in Pakistani literature by analysing this unofficial policy through neoclassical realism and bureaucratic politics for the first time.
Pages
81
Recommended Citation
YOUSAF, E. (2024). UNDERSTANDING PAKISTAN'S GOOD TALIBAN/BAD TALIBAN POLICY: ITS ROLE IN TTP RESURGENCE AND THE IMPACT OF THIS RESURGENCE ON PAKISTAN’S RELATIONS WITH THE AFGHAN TALIBAN REGIME IN KABUL (Unpublished undergraduate project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/sslace/339
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