Chapter 2 Pakistan’s Afghanistan Predicament Continues...


This chapter, through a narrative of the events and developments pertinent to Afghanistan-Pakistan relations from 1947 to 2001, examines the driving factors of Pakistan’s Afghan policy and how it has pursued this policy over the years. It argues that there has been continuity as far as Pakistan’s strategic objectives vis-a-vis Afghanistan are concerned. Since the mid- 1970s, Pakistan has pursued an active policy of attempting to shape the political scenario in Afghanistan in a manner that is suitable for its security and strategic concerns. The only change or ‘adjustment’ in its policy has been in terms of the groups or individuals that it has supported in order to achieve this end. How Pakistan alters or adapts its policy to the changing situation in Afghanistan post-2014—dealt with in a subsequent chapter—is, in many ways, crucial to the situation in Afghanistan after the 2014 drawdown.
-HISTORIC DISCONNECT WITH KABUL

Afghanistan’s claims over territories that eventually became a part of Pakistan, and its refusal to accept the Durand Line as the international border between the two countries, soured bilateral relations at the very outset. Afghanistan demanded that the North- West Frontier Province (NWFP) be given the option of either joining Afghanistan or forming an independent state, in addition to the option of joining either India or Pakistan. This proposal, however, was rejected by the British, leaving the Pashtuns on the east of the Durand Line with no choice but to opt for Pakistan as their home. This sowed the seeds for future dissension, and possible secession, which for long has been Islamabad’s Achilles’ heel.
Although the Pashtuns were compelled to accept the division of their homeland, they never recognised the boundary drawn by the British. Afghanistan denied the validity and legitimacy of the Durand Line, arguing that Pakistan could not inherit the rights of an ‘extinguished person’ i.e. the British government in India.

To be continued...