Afghan Geopolitical Chessboard - Strategic Interests of Pakistan and India in Afghanistan

In international relations, every country has some strategic interests – long-term goals and aims that a country pursues to secure and enhance its security, economic prosperity and global and regional influence. For this purpose, nations build alliances and cooperate or compete with other countries. When the strategic interests of two or more countries coincide, they cooperate and make alliances to secure them. However, when their interests contradict, they compete to checkmate each other. The latter scenario aptly depicts the tussle between Pakistan and India. Being archrivals, both have competing interests and each side explores new avenues to secure its strategic interests and have an upper hand over the other. One such avenue is Afghanistan where both Pakistan and India are heavily involved to secure their respective strategic interests.