Other

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

The Documentary

Documentaries

Factual

The Documentary Podcast

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

The Documentary: Pakistan's long game

Pakistan's long game

01/02/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Pakistan's long game

Owen Bennett-Jones examines the long game Pakistan played in the US defeat in Afghanistan

Owen Bennett-Jones examines the long game Pakistan played in the US defeat in Afghanistan.

Owen Bennett-Jones examines how the government in Tehran outwitted the United States in Iraq, which resulted in Tehran having more influence in Baghdad than Washington.

He also examines  how Islamabad pulled off much the same trick in relation to Afghanistan. But whilst Iran was under US sanctions, Pakistan secured its objectives in Afghanistan whilst simultaneously receiving billions of dollars worth of US aid. As one retired Pakistan intelligence chief bragged – the US was helping secure its own defeat.

Owen highlights the occasions on which Pakistan (despite many denials) acknowledged that it did have a relationship with the Afghan Taliban. He looks at the nature of that relationship and explains how Pakistan felt it had little choice. Islamabad always realised that Western forces would leave Afghanistan and that it had to prepare for the situation after the withdrawal. 

He speaks to Pakistani and US critics of Pakistan’s policy and asks whether the Pakistani strategy will backfire. It may now be enjoying a degree of control in Afghanistan, but how great is the threat from an emboldened Pakistani Taliban which wants power in Pakistan itself. And most of all how come the most powerful country on earth was outwitted by two regional powers, first Iran and then Pakistan.

(Photo: A man holds a national flag of Pakistan as he walks along a street in Islamabad. Credit: Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Documentary

Pakistan's long game

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

About BBC World Service