Pakistan’s Strategic Depth in Afghanistan Ambivalence After the Taliban-Us Agreement of 2020

ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study is to examine how Pakistan’s choice of strategic depth affected the security environment between Afghanistan and Pakistan. After analysing the changing geopolitical landscape in Afghanistan in the wake of the US-Taliban agreement on February 29, 2020, this study also outlines numerous Pakistani strategic challenges and rational choices. Data was be collected and processed using primary documents, such as draughts of agreements between the United States of America and the Taliban, draughts of joint declarations of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the United States of America for bringing peace to Afghanistan, and official statements from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the United States, China, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, and India. Research papers, think tank studies, newspaper sources, official statements from key players, and other secondary sources will be used to collect data. The prior research did not examine how Pakistan’s rational decision to pursue strategic depth affected the Afghan-Pakistan issue, how this understanding is interpreted by defence policy stakeholders, or what other rational options Pakistan might have. This study has overcome this gap.