Pakistan’s Military Elites in Search of «Strategic Depth»: The Concept’s Evolution and Prospects

Abstract

The article deals with the concept of “Strategic Depth” that allegedly determines Pakistan’s military elites’ course of action. The author gives a definition to “Strategic Depth” and points out the issues relating to the term, analyzes the roots of Pakistan’s military elites’ perception of the Frontier and traces the evolution of the issues considered. The author invoked elite theory to identify certain social groups involved in prioritizing defense and security policies. The historical sociology of international relations makes it possible to assess the influence of the past on the essence of the social groups’ decisions, and to consider their attempts to construct outer threats for domestic purposes. The concept of “Strategic Depth” could be divided into three aspects: the demarcation and delimitation of the Pakistani-Afghan border, control over the Frontier area in Pakistan, and the possible usage of instability in these territories by other countries. None of “Strategic Depth”’s aims has ever been achieved after the Taliban takeover. The Taliban government in Kabul is not ready to recognize the Durand line, the confrontation between the TTP and the Centre has only escalated, New Delhi and Kabul are resuming their dialogue. The Pakistani military elites equally perceive the threats from India and Afghanistan, which allows them to justify their special mission to repel external threats and preserve statehood. It can be assumed that the whole range of problems will remain on the agenda in the long term, since the domestic dimension of “Strategic Depth” is of greater importance than the foreign and strategic one.