World

The Skies Above the Durand: Why Pakistan’s Proxy Illusion in Kabul Has Burned to the Ground

For decades, Islamabad’s strategic planners chased a mirage of 'strategic depth' in Afghanistan, believing a friendly regime in Kabul would secure Pakistan’s western flank. This July 2026, as military drones exchange fire across the disputed Durand Line, that illusion is officially dead. The escalating border skirmishes between the Pakistani military and the Afghan Taliban represent a major geopolitical failure, turning an artificial border drawn in the dust into the most volatile flashpoint in Central Asia.