Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Afghans are a fiercely independent people. Speak to anyone on the streets of Kabul and one sentiment comes through clearly: they want peace with Pakistan, but not at the cost of their sovereignty.
As tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan continue, with reports of Pakistani strikes on villages along the border, residents of Kabul say they still hope the two neighbours can avoid a wider conflict.
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“We are both Muslims. We are neighbours. I hope political differences don’t divide our people,” says one resident. It is a sentiment echoed by many across the capital.
But there is also a clear red line.
If the conflict spills over, many say they are prepared to defend their country. There is visible anger over Pakistan‘s alleged bombing of a health rehabilitation centre near Kabul in March, an attack Afghan authorities say killed more than 100 patients.
Pakistan denies targeting civilians, maintaining that the strike was aimed at terrorist hideouts.
“What happened was wrong. They were innocent patients,” another resident says.
More than 700 people, most of them in border regions, have been killed since the conflict escalated in early 2026. While Pakistan insists it is targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) bases, Afghanistan has repeatedly denied sheltering the group.
Yet, for ordinary Afghans, another war is the last thing they want.
After decades of conflict, sanctions and international isolation, people here speak more about stability than politics.
Afghanistan remains, in many ways, an international pariah. Most countries still do not formally recognise the Taliban government. Its diplomatic status remains in a grey zone, and its formal economy is still struggling.
But there is another reality that is equally hard to ignore.
For the first time in more than four decades, much of the country is relatively stable. And that stability has come under the Taliban.
The Taliban that returned to power in 2021 after the collapse of the previous government appears markedly different from the one that ruled between 1996 and 2001. While it still lacks international recognition, it has managed to run a functioning, if isolated, state. Countries such as Russia, China and India have steadily expanded their engagement with Kabul, even without formally recognising the regime.
Away from the conflict in the border districts, life in Kabul is gradually finding its rhythm again.
Evening gatherings have returned. Cafs are bustling. Families stroll through markets, and young people spend time at restaurants and public spaces in a way that would have been difficult to imagine just a few years ago.
Part of that change is attributed to the Taliban easing some aspects of its social policing, a noticeable departure from its first spell in power.
India, meanwhile, continues to enjoy considerable goodwill among ordinary Afghans.
“India has always helped us. Always,” says a young man in central Kabul.
That sentiment reflects years of Indian humanitarian assistance, infrastructure projects and development work across Afghanistan.
Even as tensions with Pakistan have escalated, India has continued to criticise attacks on civilians and has maintained economic engagement with Kabul despite its complicated relationship with the Taliban during the group’s first stint in power.
For many in Kabul, the hope is that the fragile calm of the past few years can endure.
But if there is one concern that repeatedly surfaces in conversations across the city, it is Pakistan. Many now see the ongoing confrontation as the biggest threat to Afghanistan’s hopes of finally leaving decades of war behind and building a peaceful, prosperous future.
– Ends
SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
