mAd_ScIeNtIsT

Support for the Taliban will always put Pakistan in opposition to Iran. Iran's primary long-term interest is the protection of the political and religious rights of Afghanistan's Shias, which puts Iran in opposition to the Taliban which excludes Shias from power and which prevented certain Shia rites that the Taliban viewed as innovations.

Pakistan must not make the mistakes of the 1990s again and adopt Afghanistan policies that draw the ire of Iran, which is by far and away the most important of our Muslim neighbours.

It is no coincidence that Pakistan and Iran's relationship has improved a lot since the Taliban fell, even despite very pro-western government in Pakistan since then. Our support for the Taliban was a poison in our relationship with Iran.

Our long-term Afghanistan policy must be one that ensures a government favoured by both Islamabad and Tehran. This cannot be the Taliban; instead some new party would need to be engineered.