The stalemate in Afghanistan has left the powers that be with the option of two choices: prop up a divided Afghanistan government in Kabul in a stiff and precarious truce with the majority Taliban establishment or leave the country to its fate. This war in Afghanistan carried out by a US-led effort for 19 years is being counted as the longest war in American history. US officials are building a consensus that it is time to pull out their troops from Afghanistan. The intra-Afghan talks have picked up steam after months of inaction by signing an agreement on “rules and procedures for their [Afghan government and Taliban] negotiations on a political roadmap and a comprehensive ceasefire”. As our immediate neighbour, Pakistan has a direct stake in whatever shape Afghanistan will take after the withdrawal on Jan. 15 2021.  
Pakistan has played a direct role in bridging the gap between many stakeholders in the Afghan peace process. Throughout the previous decade, Pakistan has reaffirmed its commitment to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process that brought the Taliban to the negotiating table with the Afghan government. Pakistan released Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in 2018 and hosted his delegation in Islamabad after peace negotiations had been halted by President Trump due to increase in violence. Pakistan’s efforts bore fruit in 2020 with the US and Taliban signing two peace deals that formally opened the door to intra-Afghan negotiations. These efforts are in accordance with Pakistan’s foreign policy priority lines. 
Prime Minister Imran Khan on his inaugural visit to Kabul last month reiterated Pakistan’s commitment towards a peaceful Afghanistan and curbing violence in the region. Though the trip was a diplomatic success, Pakistan should play its cards wisely and only open its good offices to Afghanistan if the latter holds up its commitments to deter terrorism that risk Pakistan’s national security concerns. Peace in Afghanistan is essential for economic cooperation in the region and Pakistan can only benefit from the Western and Central Asian markets if Afghanistan is stable. 
Pakistan’s submission of a dossier to the UN on India’s systematic campaign to promote terrorism and subversion in Pakistan is a necessary step to deter the one-way framing by Indian propaganda machines among the international community. According to this dossier, there is irrefutable evidence of India operating from Afghan soil to undermine Pakistan. Though the dossier has not been made public for academic study, it’s about time we fully dissect India’s machinations in Afghanistan to de-stabilize Pakistan on a national level. 
Pakistan needs to address its security concerns regarding Afghanistan because anti-Pakistan groups and their subsidiaries have again given rise to terrorism in the country. Thus, Pakistan has to vehemently take up the matter with Afghanistan authorities. Utilizing the existing mechanisms of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) for consultative discourse on security matters can allow Islamabad to convey to Kabul that the road to lasting peace is not a one-way track. Pak-Afghan relations can only be improved from a collaborative effort by preventing underground actors from using their respective territories for terrorism, firmly setting the two country’s good neighborly relationship in order.
The writer is a Lahore based freelance contributor on current global affairs and is a graduate of NUST.