Firstly, the government of Pakistan has never been an Islamist one except for under Zia Ul-Haq, so Islam can be ruled out as the reason.
The usage of religious extremists or any other kind extremists by governments has been for political benefits. Even Zia Ul-Haq himself was said to have slept with whores and indeed most leaders who preach an ultra-orthodox version of Islam are too lazy to follow it's tight restrictions.
So coming back to the question of why Pakistan supported the Taliban in Afghanistan, the history and geography of Afghanistan needs to be understood.
Afghanistan lies in an extremely precious region rich in resources especially in the fields of energy. Though Afghanistan itself might not have many natural resources, it is a path to the Caspian Sea basin which has amongst the highest reserves of oil in the world.
To access this oil for a highly demanding western market (and other non-western markets) via the nearest open-sea port, one must pass through either Iran or through Pakistan to the Turkmenbashy port in Turkmenistan via Afghanistan as the map below shows:
But with Iran having bad relations with Western Europe and America, Pakistan remains the only source of shipping Caspian oil from it's ports through Afghanistan.
The point is that Afghanistan is the only gateway between Pakistan and Central Asia. Ever since the post World War Two era, Pakistan's traditional arch-rivals India, the former Soviet Union and now Shia Iran have kept their influence in the country, backing warlords who would serve their interests.
This gives them control over the trade routes between the oil rich Caspian and also perhaps giving them control of Afghan airspace, thus adding difficulty in air links between Pakistan and the West which passes through Afghanistan.
Right up till the end of the Cold War, the Afghan regimes had pro-Indian, pro-Soviet policies, putting Pakistan in a difficult geo-political situation.
After the pullout of Soviet forces from Afghanistan after a ten year failed invasion, the post revolutionary Shia Iranian government sought to empower the Tajiks to gain control between Pakistan and Central Asia.
The Tajiks aligned themselves with the Uzbeks and Turkmens (backed by Turkey) into the Northern Alliance , which was also pro-Indian and enjoyed Indian support.
It should be noted that the Shia Iranian regime is to a degree very anti-Pakistan and has maintained good relations with India, despite Pakistan and North Korea being Iran's only two supporters during the Iran-Iraq war. Even within Pakistan, the Iranian regime is an important contributor to Shia-Sunni violence.
Within Iran anti-Pakistani propaganda is continuously fed by the regime to the religious masses.
Coming back to Afghanistan, with the Northern Alliance in power, Iran, India and the Russian Federation would control Pakistan's gateway to Central Asia and onwards into Europe.
Seeing it had no other option to counter Afghanistan from falling into the control of it's arch-rivals, Pakistan's government then turned to the Taliban who were mainly consisted of ethnic Pashtuns/Pakhtuns, the traditional arch-rivals of the pro-Iranian Tajiks.
The civil war in Afghanistan was not a religious war, but a war of traditional arch-rival ethnic groups. The various Pakistani governments who came into power have never shared the Taliban's brand of Islam, as most Pakistani politicians don't follow strict forms of Islam, let alone the interpretation of the Taliban.
However, their silence to the brutal practices of the Taliban was so because they shared a common interest with them. Those who see Pakistan as a source of extremism in Afghanistan are ignorant and looking at a narrow perspective of Afghanistan and the region it lies within.
After the 911 attacks the Northern Alliance became champions in the eyes of many in the West who didn't look at their strongest supporters, the Islamic Republic of Iran which till today practices harsh laws on it's population very similar to the Taliban's.
Had Iran, India and the Russian Federation sought some sort of compromise with Pakistan and worked to build a multi-ethnic unifying Afghan government, there would have been no need to support various arch-rivals.
Starting at the end of World War Two right up until the end of the Cold War, the ruling regimes in Afghanistan have been determined to take control of Pakistani provinces as theirs because they saw the Durand line treaty as invalid and openly pledged support for India's claim over Kashmir.
Additionally, Afghanistan's various governments had tried to promote anti-state elements in Pakistan's Balochistan and North Western Frontier Province. It was only then Pakistan got involved in Afghan politics to counter Afghan interference.
As long as Pakistan's arch-rivals continue to use Afghanistan weather to encircle it or to cut off Pakistan from Central Asia, Pakistan, like any other country will do what is in it's best interests to fend off unwanted interference.
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Pakistan saw it's sovereignty being threatened fearing it could be next.
The Americans feared the Soviets taking control over Pakistan would eventually give them control of the Arabian sea region.
This is why both countries pledged support for anti-Soviet Mujaheddins. It was a mutual interest rather than a proxy war as many like to propagate.
The Soviet Union also had a history of contributing to Pakistan's problems by pledging support for India in Kashmir as well as helping anti-Pakistan terrorist groups originating in Afghanistan with the intentions of violating the Durand Line.
It is also believed that the USSR played a vital role that led to the devastating and costly events of 1971.
Both America and Pakistan had achieved vengeance for a country that had caused them many troubles in the past by arming and training the Afghan mujaheddin. America for Vietnam and Pakistan for an irritant India and Afghanistan, both backed by the evil Soviet empire.
The critical geopolitical position of Pakistan and Afghanistan recalls the views of Sir Halford J. Mackinder, Professor Karl Hausholer and Admiral Alfred Thomas Mahan. It was Mackinder writing in 1904 who first used the expression "geographical pivots of history." He advanced the idea of the "heartland" i.e. that whoever controls a central strategic or pivotal area, controls the surrounding, area, the range of control expanding in concentric circles. These ideas profoundly influenced Karl Haushofer, an army major general then professor of geography at Munich University. Haushofer was introduced to Adolf Hitler by Rudolf Hess.
Hypocrites who point fingers at Pakistan for being the source of Afghanistan's problems should read history and ask themselves why the Afghan governments created the worst political situations within the country only to call upon the intervention of the USSR, an intervention that would only result in a deadly political climax.
Or why Afghan regimes long before the outbreak of civil war had been trying to create ethnic strife (and still are) within Pakistan and aligning themselves with the Indian government on the Kashmir issue.
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