Indian Funding, Israeli Tech, Afghan Fighters: Pakistan's 'Triangle Alliance' Narrative and Its Security Crisis

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan continue to escalate. Pakistani military forces launched strikes inside Afghanistan, reportedly killing 36 people, the majority of whom were civilians. The Taliban swiftly retaliated, launching operations against militants in Pakistani border provinces.

Pakistan claimed that Taliban forces "crossed the border and fired four rudimentary drones into Balochistan… these hostile aircraft were immediately detected and intercepted by Pakistan's robust air-defense network."

The Afghan Ministry of Defense posted on X that it had conducted "airstrikes" against Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in the northwest, stating the operations resulted in casualties among Islamic State (IS) members.

Meanwhile, Pakistani media commentators, security analysts, and think-tank scholars have widely promoted the view that a "triangle" composed of India, Israel, and Afghanistan is the driving force behind all separatist movements inside Pakistan. They argue that the near-war footing between Pakistan and Afghanistan is a direct result of this "unholy alliance."

Under this theoretical framework, India provides funding and industrial capacity, Israel supplies technology and intelligence, and the Taliban furnishes armed fighters to attack Pakistan.

A Conspiracy Narrative

Defense analyst Dr. Abdullah Gul stated on Pakistani Radio: "Attacks on Pakistan began after Modi's visit to Israel, so these attacks are part of a larger plan drawn up by Israel and India in conjunction with the Afghan Taliban regime. Under that plan, they are entangling Pakistan with Afghanistan so they can more easily strike Iran."

Similarly, prominent Pakistani media figure Najam Sethi claimed on a news program that the Taliban are acting as proxies for Israel and India against Pakistan.

Retired Brigadier Ghazanfar Ali Shah added: "There is collusion between India and Israel—the directors and entire teams of Indian intelligence agency RAW and Israeli intelligence agency Mossad are permanently based at the Indian Embassy in Kabul, planning operations and assigning targets to various terrorist organizations."

Pakistani news channel Capital TV recently aired a talk show titled The Alliance of India, Afghanistan, and Israel Against Pakistan, while Geo News produced a segment titled India, Israel, Afghanistan's Nexus: A Growing Threat to Global Peace?

In March 2026, an academic paper explored The India–Israel–Afghanistan Strategic Nexus: Intelligence Cooperation, Counter-China Containment, and Pakistan's Security Dilemma in the context of intelligence sharing and threats to Pakistan.

The paper stated: "Intensifying great-power competition, transformations in the technology of warfare, and the securitization of infrastructure and connectivity initiatives are collectively reshaping the region's new security landscape. Within this evolving structure, states are increasingly inclined to pursue flexible, issue-based—and in many cases covert—alignment arrangements to advance national interests. The growing convergence among India, Israel, and Afghanistan is among the most consequential yet least studied manifestations of this trend. Despite their geographic dispersion, differing political systems, and distinct immediate security priorities, these three states share common interests in managing regional armed conflict and instability."

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif accused India of secretly concealing Israeli-made drones inside medical aid shipments to smuggle them into Afghanistan. Asif further claimed that the Iran war itself is part of an India–Israel joint agenda aimed at encircling Pakistan.

He posted on X: "Although Iran was ready to reach a deal, war was imposed on them, and this Zionist-driven agenda aims to extend Israeli influence to Pakistan's borders."

He also wrote: "At that point, the common objective of Afghanistan, Iran, and India will be hostility toward Pakistan—making our borders insecure, surrounding us with enemies on all sides, and turning Pakistan into a vassal state."

These statements illustrate that the narrative of India, Israel, and Afghanistan conspiring against Pakistan commands substantial currency among Pakistani media commentators, defense analysts, and senior government officials alike.

A Historical Irony

In the mid-to-late 1990s, as the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan, India and Russia supported the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance—led by Ahmad Shah Massoud and based in the Panjshir Valley in northern Afghanistan. Pakistan, by contrast, provided the Taliban with weapons, funding, and training.

After the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, they took a series of anti-India actions, including harboring and providing logistical support to the hijackers of Indian Airlines Flight IC814 in December 1999. The Taliban allowed the hijackers to operate inside Afghanistan and used passengers as leverage to secure the release of three militants, including Masood Azhar.

During the US intervention in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021, India consistently backed the Afghan National Unity Government while Pakistan provided sanctuary to Taliban fighters.

When the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021, Pakistan celebrated. Shortly afterward, then-ISI Director General Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed visited Kabul and was photographed relaxing over tea at the upscale Serena Hotel—an image that spread widely online and was seen by many as a powerful symbol of Pakistan's deep involvement in Taliban affairs and its swift move to reassert influence in Afghanistan.

For years, Pakistan used the Taliban as proxies, attempting to turn Afghanistan into strategic depth against India. Now, after nurturing the Taliban for decades, Islamabad is absurdly rebranding them as Indian proxies.

Roots of the Current Afghan-Pakistan Conflict

Afghanistan—including the Taliban—has never recognized the Durand Line, the colonial-era boundary that bisects traditional Pashtun territory. Ignoring Taliban objections, Pakistan is constructing a separation fence along the nearly 2,640-kilometer Durand Line, forcibly dividing tribes and families who have lived together for centuries.

Since 2023, Pakistan has also forcibly expelled more than one million Afghan refugees, further inflaming tensions. The Taliban's refusal to play the role of a junior ISI partner is another key driver of border conflict.

Notably, the first large-scale clashes between the Taliban and Pakistan erupted in October 2025, coinciding with a visit to India by Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Pakistan's airstrikes on Afghanistan were widely interpreted as an unambiguous warning signal: if the Taliban deviated from the script, Islamabad would not hesitate to use force.

The Propaganda Playbook

By accusing a "Hindu" India, a "Jewish" Israel, and the Taliban of forming an "unholy alliance," Islamabad seeks to undermine the Taliban's Islamic credibility, branding them as proxies of regional anti-Muslim forces.

This tactic aligns with Islamabad's broader strategy of relabeling militant groups it once created—reframing them not merely as un-Islamic, but as enemies of Islam itself.

Applying the same logic, since last year Pakistan has referred to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants as "Khawarij of Fitna al-Khwarij, agents of Hindustan."

In August 2024, Pakistan's Federal Interior Ministry issued a notification designating the TTP as "Fitna al-Khwarij," stating that the TTP uses religion as a cover and damages the image of Islam. The notification further specified that in all official documents and correspondence, the word "Khawarij" must be used alongside the names of these militants; individuals associated with the terrorist organization are not to be addressed with titles such as "Mufti" or "Hafiz."

Who Are the 'Khawarij'?

"Khawarij" means "rebels" or "those who went out," derived from the Arabic for "those who departed." It refers to a group of early followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law. This faction, later called the Khawarij, opposed and abandoned Ali, declared him an apostate on the grounds that he had not governed by God's law, and ultimately assassinated him. "The Khawarij are considered the first Muslim group to practice takfir—the act of declaring fellow believers apostates—and to use that declaration to justify violence against perceived heretics."

Pakistan's replacement of "TTP" with "Khawarij" serves two purposes: first, to suggest that the TTP movement has nothing to do with Islam; and second, by giving the TTP a new name, to obscure Pakistan's own deep role in funding, aiding, and arming the organization.

The striking parallel between Pakistan calling the TTP "Khawarij" and "Fitna of Hindustan" and its branding of the Taliban as Indian and Israeli proxies is unmistakable—both strategies aim to strip these organizations of their Islamic credibility while attributing their existence to India, when in fact it was Pakistan that funded, armed, and supported them for decades.

Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels is widely associated with the "big lie" theory: "If you tell a big enough lie and repeat it often enough, people will eventually believe it." Adolf Hitler expressed a similar view in his 1925 book Mein Kampf. In recent years, Pakistan appears to be drawing directly from the Nazi propaganda playbook.

Pakistan believes that by calling the TTP "Fitna of Hindustan" and branding the Taliban as Indian proxies, the world will forget Islamabad's foundational role in creating these organizations—allowing it to reinvent itself as a victim of terrorism and a bulwark against regional religious extremism. Yet Pakistan's domestic terrorism, separatist movements, and deteriorating relations with Afghanistan are entirely of its own making. Relabeling these groups cannot resolve Pakistan's deep existential dilemmas.

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Author Sumit Ahlawat has over a decade of experience in the media industry, having worked with the Press Trust of India (PTI), Times Now, Zee News, The Economic Times, and Microsoft News. He holds a Master's degree in International Media and Modern History from the University of Sheffield, UK. The views expressed are the author's own.

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