Pakistan urges US Afghanistan war commission to hear its side of 20-year conflict

Pakistan’s military leadership urged a US congressional panel reviewing the 20-year Afghan war to incorporate Islamabad's perspective, emphasizing its heavy security burden and Taliban blowback.

Pakistan’s military leadership has formally urged an American congressional panel reviewing the Afghan war to incorporate Islamabad’s account of the conflict into its evaluation, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) confirmed on Monday. 

The statement followed a high-level meeting at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where a delegation of the US Afghanistan War Commission led by co-chairs Ms. Shamila N. Chaudhary and Dr. Colin F. Jackson called on the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defense Forces, Field Marshal Asim Munir.

Chaudhary is a foreign policy expert with prior service on the National Security Council and State Department, specializing in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and Jackson is a Naval War College professor and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.

According to the ISPR, discussions centered on Pakistan's historical support, regional security dynamics, and developments inside Afghanistan. 

Military leaders stressed the heavy security burden Pakistan faced during the prolonged conflict, saying any assessment of the war must also consider regional perspectives.

US acknowledgment of Pakistani contributions to regional stability

In response, the visiting US delegation acknowledged Islamabad's longstanding sacrifices and its continued contributions to regional stability, even as Pakistan grapples with the sharp security blowback from the Taliban regime it helped bring to power five years ago. 

Established by the US Congress under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, the bipartisan Afghanistan War Commission is conducting a comprehensive review of America's 20-year involvement in Afghanistan (2001–2021). 

Modeled after the 9/11 Commission, the 16-member panel evaluates strategic decisions and formulates policy lessons for future engagements.

Islamabad’s account of the conflict emphasizes that Pakistan was a key US ally in the war on terror, providing critical logistical support, supply routes and counterterrorism cooperation during the US-led invasion and subsequent 20-year war in Afghanistan, while itself bearing a heavy human and security cost.

Pakistan has consistently maintained that, despite its efforts to support regional stability, territory controlled by the Afghan Taliban has increasingly provided sanctuary to banned anti-Pakistan militant groups, particularly the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad accuses of planning and launching attacks inside Pakistan from Afghan soil. 

Pakistan has repeatedly presented this concern to international forums, and a recent UN Security Council monitoring report found that Taliban support for the TTP had contributed to an increase in the frequency and lethality of militant attacks in Pakistan.

Islamabad therefore argues that the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 has been followed by a significant deterioration in Pakistan’s security environment, with cross-border militancy and attacks intensifying. It says Pakistan’s experience and security concerns should form an integral part of any assessment of the US war in Afghanistan.

The high-stakes engagement with the US Afghanistan War Commission unfolded mere days after Islamabad launched precision cross-border airstrikes against terrorist hideouts inside Afghanistan used to coordinate and execute drone attacks.