RASC News Agency: In the wake of credible reports of a Pakistani drone strike in Nuristan province, former Afghanistani president Hamid Karzai released a statement voicing his “concern” and urging Islamabad to respect Afghanistan’s national sovereignty. Yet for seasoned observers of Afghanistani politics, this performance is nothing more than familiar theater masking Karzai’s long-running role as a guardian of the Taliban’s political survival. Analysts argue that Karzai has, for over two decades, pursued a calculated strategy to legitimize and entrench the Taliban, not dismantle them. During his presidency, his administration’s selective military engagement, opaque peace overtures, and leniency toward insurgent sanctuaries created fertile ground for the group’s resurgence. Since the republic’s collapse in August 2021, Karzai has become a behind-the-scenes adviser to the Taliban’s political core urging them not to compromise their grip on power but to offer cosmetic concessions to the international community in order to secure recognition, aid, and longevity.
Sources with access to high-level diplomatic meetings say Karzai routinely describes the Taliban to foreign envoys as “an unavoidable political reality”, framing their continued rule as the only viable path to stability. His counsel to Taliban leaders reportedly centers on adopting selective public-relations reforms such as controlled media appearances or symbolic gestures on women’s rights while leaving the regime’s repressive machinery intact. The Nuristan drone strike once again exposes what critics see as a dangerously intimate nexus between the Taliban and Pakistan’s military-intelligence establishment. Despite a blatant violation of Afghanistani airspace, the Taliban leadership remained conspicuously mute signaling either tacit approval or strategic dependence on Islamabad’s patronage. The absence of even a formal protest underscores the depth of these security ties, which many Afghans believe have subordinated national sovereignty to Pakistan’s geopolitical agenda.
On August 13, Karzai publicly called on Pakistan to “act in accordance with international principles” and maintain relations of civility and good neighborliness. But for his detractors, such statements are little more than diplomatic varnish crafted to preserve his statesman image while ensuring that no genuine political challenge to Taliban dominance emerges. Pakistani and regional sources, including Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, report that the strike may have targeted Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) positions. Yet, the details intended targets, collateral damage, and operational objectives remain shrouded in ambiguity. What is clear, however, is that the Taliban’s silence, coupled with Karzai’s political choreography, reinforces a grim truth: Afghanistan’s sovereignty is being eroded not solely by foreign aggression, but also by domestic powerbrokers whose loyalty to the Taliban outweighs any commitment to a truly independent and democratic Afghanistani state.
