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It has also grown very concerned about Kabul's ties with Pakistan's regional rival, India. The Taliban's acting foreign minister, Amir Khan Mutaqqi, recently visited New Delhi, where he was warmly welcomed by India's government. Pakistan has traditionally viewed Afghanistan as being part of its backyard of influence.

Pakistan's military and powerful military intelligence (the Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI) have sought to counter the threat from Afghanistan by pursuing a strategy of deterrence and punishment.

This has included deporting tens and thousands of refugees back to Afghanistan, most of whom had fled the Taliban's repressive, discriminatory and misogynist rule. Islamabad has also occasionally bombed targets in Afghanistan.

What led to the recent fighting

The situation escalated sharply this month after the TTP launched attacks on Pakistan security forces, including a suicide bombing on a police training school, killing 23 people.

Pakistan responded by striking what it claimed to be TTP sites in Kabul and Kandahar, where the Taliban's elusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhunzadeh reportedly lives.

In retaliation, Taliban forces attacked Pakistani posts along the disputed 2,600-kilometre Afghanistan-Pakistan border (also known as the Durand Line ), resulting in considerable military and civilian casualties on both sides.

Pakistan also blocked Afghan transit routes, striking a serious blow to the already devastated Afghan economy. Although the Taliban rerouted their goods through Iranian ports, this is not as financially viable as, or a proper substitute for, Pakistan's transit routes.

The two sides agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire last week, but it was immediately broken when Pakistan launched more airstrikes that Kabul said killed several cricket players. Islamabad denies civilians were killed.

Trucks carrying goods destined for Afghanistan line up to wait for the border to reopen last week following recent clashes. Bilawal Arbab / EPA Pakistan's dilemma

In the final analysis, Islamabad cannot blame anyone but itself for the challenges it faces from the Afghan Taliban. It nurtured and supported the Taliban as a terrorist group for some three decades.

As Pakistani Defence Minister Kawaja Asif recently acknowledged, Islamabad long pursued a double-edged foreign policy. It has publicly opposed terrorism, while using extremist groups, like the Afghan Taliban and their affiliates, to gain regional influence in its competition with India.