Chapter 2 continues…

This apparent ‘tilt’ in US’ Afghan strategy towards India has intensified Pakistan’s concerns vis-a-vis India.

Pakistan’s Defence Secretary, Lt. Gen. Asif Yasin told US officials in January 2014 that Pakistan would not accept a robust role for India in Afghanistan post-2014 following the international drawdown.

‘PAKISTANI KABUL’

With its limited military and economic capability, there was a realisation in Pakistan that it was not feasible to militarily conquer Afghanistan or to turn it into a military colony.

The most feasible option would be to ensure that only a Pakistan-friendly regime ruled from Kabul that could prevent both encirclement by India and undermine Pashtun nationalism. In that sense, the ‘Strategic Depth’ doctrine of Pakistan should be seen as a more broad-based approach, which favours strong economic and political ties with a friendly regime in Kabul than the more military-centred nature of the original proposal.

Pakistan since the 1970s has attempted to intervene in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and influence the political developments in a manner that would be conducive to its interests. It has sought to cultivate proxies within Afghanistan, who could then be brought to power in Kabul in an attempt to safeguard and further its interests.

The first signs of such a policy were visible in the early 1970s under the leadership of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Naseerullah Babar, Pakistan’s Inspector General (IG), Frontier Corps. Till that point Pakistan’s response to the threat posed by Afghanistan was mostly a defensive one, which included the severing of diplomatic ties and closing down of borders with Afghanistan.

For instance, Pakistan cut off fuel supplies to Afghanistan in 1949 following Kabul’s support for the declaration of independence by Pashtun tribesmen and put an end to imports from Afghanistan for three months following the incursions in 1951. Diplomatic ties were broken off in 1955, as a reaction to protests in Afghanistan against Pakistan’s decision to promulgate the ‘One Unit System’ and were only fully restored in 1957, and again following the border skirmishes in 1961, which were subsequently restored in 1963.

To be continued…