#SanctionPakistan trends as violence rages in Afghanistan

Twitter hashtag shows the antipathy many Afghans hold for perceived role of their neighbour in the continuing war.

As violence from a Taliban offensive on government-held areas surges in Afghanistan, the use of the Twitter hashtag #SanctionPakistan by thousands has shown the antipathy many Afghans hold for the perceived role of the country’s eastern neighbour. As of Wednesday, the hashtag had been used more than 730,000 times, with at least 37 percent of those tweets tagged as originating in Afghanistan, according to data from the social media insight company, Talkwalker. One of the main proponents of the trend has been journalist Habib Khan Totakhil, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, who has helped amplify voices using the hashtag.