Afghanistan is Pakistan’s Principal Enemy

[Kabira]

But unlike India, Afghanistan is a country with little to live for. Its economy is non-existent, its biggest export is violence and its biggest import is foreign war. Such a desperate country whose fledgling leadership continues to fan the flames of regional separatism and Pashtun supremacist ideologies is dangerous even though it is weak. One could go further and say that Afghanistan is dangerous because it is weak.

Hence why complete crack down on Afghans in Pakistan is needed.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Why don’t the Afghans have any problem with Iran? Historically Iran used to control much of Afghan territory but they have no issue with them.

Iran was much better off than Pakistan when Pak got its independence(even though Iran was a puppet state at the time...and not fully independent...it was still much more developed and stronger). Even Afghanistan was better off than Pak when Pak became independent. Pak was in shambles economically, militarily, and pretty much in all aspects. Much of the already established industries and rail network during the British era ended up with India. Hundreds of thousands of ppl just upped and moved from India to Pak and from Pak to India...so u can imagine what that would do to an economy of an already underdeveloped country. Afghanistan saw it as an opportunity to pick on the little guy(Pak at that time)...they thought they had a shot at creating unrest with the Pushtunistan BS they started. Their goal(wetdream) was to take a huge chunk of land of Pakistan that would give them access to the ocean. Check out their greedy backstabbing ambitions below.

What happened over time though is that Pakistan got stronger while they regressed further and further to the point where their military is a joke, which makes it even more sour grapes for them that they can't have that Pakistani territory.

 

[Imad.Khan]

Why don’t the Afghans have any problem with Iran? Historically Iran used to control much of Afghan territory but they have no issue with them.

Because there are no Pukhtoons there, Afghans know that they can't use any other ethnicity to cause problems in Iran, except maybe Baloch. But in Pakistan there are quite a few ethnicites that are found on both side of the borders and Pukhtoons being in much larger numbers are always their preferred choice.

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Afghanistan is Pakistan’s Principal Enemy
Written by Adam Garrie on 2019-07-01

It may seem counter-intuitive to claim that a perennially failed state with illogical borders, an ethno-demographic ticking time bomb for a population and a traditionally ungovernable periphery as the primary enemy of a nuclear armed and exponentially militarily superior neighbouring state. But in the case of the failed state of Afghanistan’s relationship with nuclear Pakistan, this is very much the reality.

Although traditionally India and Pakistan are considered supreme rivals, ultimately, modern Pakistan can handle India’s random acts of aggression as was seen in the aftermath of February’s Pulwama incident. Moreover, if India truly seeks to take its place as a leading global super-economy, it is going to have to start focusing far more on internal development and far less on showing off its military during fruitless skirmishes – whether against Pakistan or against China.

In an age where even the United States under Donald Trump has traded the war marking of the Bush and Obama years for more modest money making initiatives, India will inevitably be pulled into such a path if it is serious about economic development. This will be the case even if this shatters the dreams of the most extreme elements of the ruling BJP whose Akhand Bharat fantasies are unlikely to ever be realised. The fact that India has quietly semi-normalised relations with China in an age where India is moving ever closer to the US proves that there are severe limits to the hyper-nationalism that fills the screens of pro-BJP domestic television.

But unlike India, Afghanistan is a country with little to live for. Its economy is non-existent, its biggest export is violence and its biggest import is foreign war. Such a desperate country whose fledgling leadership continues to fan the flames of regional separatism and Pashtun supremacist ideologies is dangerous even though it is weak. One could go further and say that Afghanistan is dangerous because it is weak.

Recent history has shown that one needn’t rule a rich nor mighty state to export terror. The fact that the groups that have terrorised Pakistan in recent decades have all derived from or have been armed from west of the Durand Line is proof positive of this.

Likewise, whilst Afghanistan has never had a truly sovereign economy, such a broken state in a strategic location will always find some rich foreign patron to exploit it as a pawn in a larger game. This has happened in respect of the British Empire, Soviet Union, India and the United States and it will continue to happen with some other foreign patron even if the US eventually withdraws from the quagmire that George W. Bush inaugurated in 2001.

As such, Afghanistan will continue to exist as a disunited state whose leadership elements can survive only with a negative narrative which seeks to antagonise Pakistan by politically poisoning the people of KP Province whilst the country’s radicals will also continue to threaten Iran by exploiting the naturally pro-Iranian Hazara minority of Afghanistan in attempts to drag Iran into an unnecessary quagmire.

Afghanistan is also a natural soft underbelly for terrorists seeking to infiltrate Russia via central Asia whilst the same can be said of those who wish to cause harm to China via its remote north-western borders.

Because of this, Pakistan needs to diplomatically co-opt elements within Afghanistan that have been and continue to be equally victimised by Kabul regime after Kabul regime. As the Taliban have come in from the cold twenty-five years after Pakistan realised that whilst extreme, the Taliban were the only group that would cease to light fires across the Durand Line, it is now time for Pakistan to do what the United States, Iran, Russia and China have long been doing and positively engage a reformed and moderated Taliban with renewed liens of diplomatic communication. If the US can barely take the current Kabul regime that it created seriously, there is no reason for Pakistan to be more royal than the king in this respect – especially since in Pakistan’s case such a policy would be active masochism masquerading as diplomacy.


In terms of other minorities including Hazaras, Pakistan can work to improve relations with neighbouring Iran by jointly expressing a desire to assure that life for this traditionally oppressed minority in Afghanistan has its collective rights looked out for under a new Afghan regime. The same is true of the Tajiks of Afghanistan whose interests ought to unite the wider Persianate world, the Sunni Muslim world and the wider post-Soviet space in which Russia has key security interests.

Because Afghanistan is a failed state, the US has invited its early 2000s Taliban enemy to the peace table and Russia likewise hosts an Islamist faction that it once considered a supreme enemy following the USSR’s humiliation at the hands of the Mujaheddin. In this sense, Pakistan will have an easier time communicating with the Taliban than those who ironically are communicating more with the Taliban than Pakistan is doing in 2019. Likewise, just as Russia, Iran and the US are talking to former enemies in Afghanistan, Pakistan can also pivot towards providing guidance and support to oppressed naturally pro-Iranian elements in the Afghan state that once viewed Pakistan with suspicion.

This triangulated strategy which cuts out the raging but paradoxically floundering Kabul middleman whilst engaging with important constituent elements of the Afghan failed state is a far better use of Pakistan’s time than its embarrassing attempts to pretend that a regime which refuses to recognise Pakistan’s sovereign borders whilst allowing terror to flow across the Durand Line is some how a regime worthy of redemption let alone of friendship.

If Pakistan does not realise that Afghanistan is its principal enemy whose violent geopolitical characteristics can be tamed only by appealing to politically and ethnically marginalised elements of the Afghan state, Pakistan will have committed a great crime against itself – the crime of foolishness leading to attrition and then to doo

You are right in every point you make.
I am still amazed to find so many people still sympathise with Afghanistan in the name of ummah .
While your biggest enemy is Afghanistan . Because Afghanistan was not demonised in Pakistani media nor the true terrorist activists are highlighted by the media .

 

[Asian.Century]

Sooner we realize the better, Afghan government is the enemy of Pakistan, sooner its dismantled and destroyed anti-Pak elements, the more secure Pakistsn will be...Wake up Establishment, Pak govt. and Intelligence, need some serious action and planning.

 

[Imad.Khan]

Hard to consider Afghanistan a country.....too many different factions. There are factions within Afghanistan that are our enemies.

Many Afghans have been brainwashed into thinking of a greater Afghanistan that includes Pakistani territory.... remnant thinking from the Anglo Afghan wars.

100% accurate, about 15 yrs ago, I used to mingle with Afghans in Australia and apart from a few that were of Uzbek origin, we got along very well and i didn't feel no animosity between us. But nowadays things have changed drastically. There has been a systematic approach of changing the views of Afghans against Pakistan and they are being bombarded with distorted history and deliberately spreading misinformation and inciting hatred. Afghan media is playing a pivotal role which is being funded by countries..........you all know who they are.

 

[Asian.Century]

Afghanistan has been slave pawn of British Empire, Soviet Union, India, Pakistan for 30 years and the United States and it will continue to happen with some other foreign patron even if the US eventually withdraws from the quagmire that George W. Bush inaugurated in 2001.

Afghanistan has been a FAILED State for over 200 years now.

 

[nahtanbob]

Pakistan never complained when US stopped any reimbursement funds.

The US should grow a spine and stop depending on Pak support in Afghanistan. The US should stop asking for Taliban talks and also halt the usage of supply routes. The onus squarely lies with the accuser.

pakistan can cut the supply routes. what is stopping you ?

Sooner we realize the better, Afghan government is the enemy of Pakistan, sooner its dismantled and destroyed anti-Pak elements, the more secure Pakistsn will be...Wake up Establishment, Pak govt. and Intelligence, need some serious action and planning.

why do you think the taliban was created ?

 

[niaz]

One wrong decision can destroy an entire estate and living example of that is Afghanistan, had they been on good terms with Pakistan it would have been mutually beneficial for both countries, but Afghans are not known for their brain.

I have had many close Afghan friends albeit most were Tajiks because I could converse with them in Farsi. One of these was my neighbor in a 'Bed-sit' ( one room accommodation) in South Kensington back in the 1960s when the Zahir Shah ruled Afghanistan. I asked him why Afghanis supported 'Pushtoonistan' when we had such good relations and it was so easy to travel between the two countries. He replied that true Afghans would never forgive or forget that their old Summer Capital (Peshawar) had been forcibly taken over by the Punjabis ( Sikhs) and most Afghans identify Pakistanis as Punjabis. Additionally, Afghans have never accepted the Durand Line as the international border.

Afghan support at that time manifested in the form of supporting Pukhtoonistan and had also issued postal stamps. For example.

India has exploited this resentment to the full and Hamid Gul's misadventure with Gulbuddin Hikmatyar when he bombarded Kabul in an unsuccessful fight with Rabbani during 1992 - 1996 made it worse. ( Afghans claim that about 50,000 Kabulis died because of these attacks)

I like Afghanistan as a county but IMHO Afghanistan & the Afghans are not friends of Pakistan nor are they likely to anytime soon.

 

[xyxmt]

I have had many close Afghan friends albeit most were Tajiks because I could converse with them in Farsi. One of these was my neighbor in a 'Bed-sit' ( one room accommodation) in South Kensington back in the 1960s when the Zahir Shah ruled Afghanistan. I asked him why Afghanis supported 'Pushtoonistan' when we had such good relations and it was so easy to travel between the two countries. He replied that true Afghans would never forgive or forget that their old Summer Capital (Peshawar) had been forcibly taken over by the Punjabis ( Sikhs) and most Afghans identify Pakistanis as Punjabis. Additionally, Afghans have never accepted the Durand Line as the international border.

Afghan support at that time manifested in the form of supporting Pukhtoonistan and had also issued postal stamps. For example.


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India has exploited this resentment to the full and Hamid Gul's misadventure with Gulbuddin Hikmatyar when he bombarded Kabul in an unsuccessful fight with Rabbani during 1992 - 1996 made it worse. ( Afghans claim that about 50,000 Kabulis died because of these attacks)

I like Afghanistan as a county but IMHO Afghanistan & the Afghans are not friends of Pakistan nor are they likely to anytime soon.

Hamid Gul's adventures were the necessity, Pakistan had soviet Excuse to destroy Afghanistan I think Pakistan Army was waiting for an excuse like this for 30 years. Afghanistan was enemy of Pakistan from Day one, they can support Pukhtoonistan all they want but Pakistani Pukhtoon are not stupid to go with that broken country, all they got for this support is an unending destruction and hopefully in our life time Pukhtoon parts of Afghanistan will either be with Pakistan or an independent state.

 

[Rasengan]

Afghan people are extreme bigots especially those who come from Kabul. In my opinion, Pakistan needs to fence the border ASAP. Each time they open their mouths we should cut off their supply route. The only language they understand is brute force. Nonetheless, we have two chess pieces in Afghanistan. Hekmatyar is in mainstream politics and is acting the good guy on our behalf, and the Taliban is playing the hard-hitting force. One way another the Afghans will listen to Pakistan's demand and follow our wishes.

 

[Crusher]

What a rubbish, Afghanistan is not a uniform country, only Dari/farsi speaking pashtun and tajiks of Afghanistan are the enemies of Pakistan. All those who speak this gay language of Farsi/Dari are slaves of India and primarily reside in all urban centres of Afghanistan. The rural Afghan Pashtuns of south eastern Afghanistan (Ghiljis) are OK with Pakistan. Afghan Taliban are also 90% Ghiljis afghan pashtuns of south eastern afghanistan which have always remained in "good books" of Pakistani establishment. The durranis pashtuns living in major urban centres of Afghanistan all speak that gay language Dari/Farsi of Tajiks and both these Dari/Farsi speaking Durrani Pashtuns and Tajiks are the true enemies of Pakistan. These are also the primary population of expat afghanis in Europe and Americas. Ghiljis have been predominantly rural people and were not in Durrani gay Dari/Farsi administrations of Afghanistan since Ahmed Shah Abdali's time. Only Ghiljis rural Afghan pashtuns are friends of Pakistan, the non-Ghiljis Pashtuns of Afghanistan particularly urban Durranis are biggest A****** of Afghanistan together with their Tajik slaves of north Afghanistan.

Because there are no Pukhtoons there, Afghans know that they can't use any other ethnicity to cause problems in Iran, except maybe Baloch. But in Pakistan there are quite a few ethnicites that are found on both side of the borders and Pukhtoons being in much larger numbers are always their preferred choice.

Absolutely wrong Tajiks of western Afghanistan (Herat area) and Tajiks of north eastern Iran (Mashhad area) are one and the same people divided between the two countries.

 

[American Pakistani]

Afghanistan cannot be considered a country. It have several different school of thoughts. Some love Pakistan, some are northern alliance haters.

 

[nahtanbob]

Hamid Gul's adventures were the necessity, Pakistan had soviet Excuse to destroy Afghanistan I think Pakistan Army was waiting for an excuse like this for 30 years. Afghanistan was enemy of Pakistan from Day one, they can support Pukhtoonistan all they want but Pakistani Pukhtoon are not stupid to go with that broken country, all they got for this support is an unending destruction and hopefully in our life time Pukhtoon parts of Afghanistan will either be with Pakistan or an independent state.

if pakistan was confident of its citizen loyalty you would have ignored Afghanistan
the support for the taliban indicates pakistani state's insecurity

 

[xyxmt]

if pakistan was confident of its citizen loyalty you would have ignored Afghanistan
the support for the taliban indicates pakistani state's insecurity

would US lets us do these things if they are so confident of its citizen, say something that makes sense dont act like American all the time