Arab News : Can Pakistan afford confronting US for Iran?

[Yankee-stani]

Tajiks of Afghanistan. The Tajikistani's are cool. No problem with them. What most people don't know is the seeds of the present Afghan hostility was laid in 1980s jihad in that country. The jihadis who fought against Soviet Union were not a monolith entity although the world called them "mujihadeen". The reality was more compex. The jihadi groups were split along ethnic [read Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, Turkmen] and sectarian lines [read Sunni/Shia]. Pakistan of course naturally tended to favour Pashtun groups.

To cut a long story short. Post Soviet withdrawel the jihadis groups turned against each other. Actually it was a power grab by each ethnic group. Over time Pashtun groups saw a process of distilation and out of which morphed the Taliban. The Tajiks under Shah Masood banded with others like Uzbeks to form the Northern Alliance [NA] - but it's core remained Panjsheri Tajiks. As Taliban and NA fought it out India supported NA and Pakistan of course supported Taliban. There were other external/internal actors but for simplicity I am overlooking that and just focussed on the Pak/India tussle.

In the 1990s this tussle between India [NA] and Pakistan [Taliban] culminated in a victory for Pakistan when Taliban came out on top and captured Kabul sending the Panjshiri Tajiks of NA hiding in the mountains. Taliban were no angels but for Pakistan the alternative was the India supported Panjshiri Tajiks of NA. However after 9/11 things took a bad turn for Pakistan. Musharaf instead of negotiating hard and making sure Pakistan's interests in Kabul were guarded - which was simply "no fcukin way are Panjsheri Tajiks of NA going to take Kabul over" jumpe up in the air and landed with his open a*ss to Americans. All they had to say were the magic words "stone age". The result was Pakistan gave it's airspace, land routes, ports, military logistic bases to USA for it to invade Afghanistan, remove the pro Pakistan Taliban and install the pro India Panjsheri Tajiks of NA in Kabul.

The NA overnight changed into Afghan Army uniforms and formed most of the new government. Of course they took in a few Pashtuns to cover up the reality. Overnight Kabul became a "no go area for Pakistan". And since that date we have had India nicely ensconced in Kabul with the new Afghan set up who were their buddies the Panjsheri Tajiks. That is where we are today in 2018.

Pakistan has to squeeze out India out of Afghanistan and the only way is through Taliban. Kicking USA out is also a must. But then kicking USA out will mean kicking Indians out as well. To do this though we need all the neighbours - Iran, Russia and China. The Chinese are not happy with US/India in Afghanistan as that is a threat to CPEC. The Russians feel their orbit of influence in Central Asia being under threat.

So the region badly needs to align itself to move forward. And we must keep in mind Saudia Arabia is a solid ally of USA and only second to Israel in the American network of allies in the region.

Thanks for the long summary of the situation of Afghanistan post 1978-present I am well aware of the different groups there.I think for the region's sake the Country of Afghanistan has to go I being serious too many ethnic groups and tribal groups in a cluster f...ck of a country that no one trusts.I say give the Northern portion to the Uzbeks and the Tajiks perhaps give the Wakhan Corridor to China make it part of Xinjiang and have the rest go to Iran or Pakistan what you think

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Thanks for the long summary of the situation of Afghanistan post 1978-present I am well aware of the different groups there.I think for the region's sake the Country of Afghanistan has to go I being serious too many ethnic groups and tribal groups in a cluster f...ck of a country that no one trusts.I say give the Northern portion to the Uzbeks and the Tajiks perhaps give the Wakhan Corridor to China make it part of Xinjiang and have the rest go to Iran or Pakistan what you think

No. You must keep in mind even if it divided the entities post such division will play out the hatreds and rivalries you see at present. In addition the ethnic groups do not have clear lines of division. There are lots of grey areas that would cause mass migration and killing. On top of that if that Afghanistan is divided along ethnic lines we would be by default legitimizing new ethnic states. The exact same foruma could be applied to Pakistan we are also a multi ethnic federation.

I think the solution lies squarely in the hands of Afghanistan's neighbours. In a circle going west. Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China. Afghanistan sits locked between these four. So these four have a absolute, yes absolute monopply over Afghanistan. If these four work together no outsider can do anything in Afghanistan. Therefore the solution is the four must work together and dictate what and how Afghanistan evolves. As it is the four have not worked together - in particular Pakistan worked with a outsider, USA and let them inside Afghanistan who of course rewarded Pakistan by letting in India.

The only solution left now is the four have to be on the same page and slowly squeeze USA out. If the four work together they will prevail. That is obvious. Look at the geography.

Look who holds the four keys to Afghanistan.

 

[Pakistani Aircraft]

Pakistan is not going to confront the US for Iran as the latter is irrelevant to Pakistan - there's next to no trade with Iran and Iran wouldn't confront anyone for Pakistan.

Pakistan is however defending Chinese CPEC against US objections and will continue to do so come what may.

 

[MultaniGuy]

Thanks for the long summary of the situation of Afghanistan post 1978-present I am well aware of the different groups there.I think for the region's sake the Country of Afghanistan has to go I being serious too many ethnic groups and tribal groups in a cluster f...ck of a country that no one trusts.I say give the Northern portion to the Uzbeks and the Tajiks perhaps give the Wakhan Corridor to China make it part of Xinjiang and have the rest go to Iran or Pakistan what you think

But the Afghanistanis won't accept division of their country.
Even if there are many divisions in Afghanistani society.

I am aware there are Pathans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Hazara, and Baloch in that country.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

But the Afghanistanis won't accept division of their country.
Even if there are many divisions in Afghanistani society.

I am aware there are Pathans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Turkmen, Hazara, and Baloch in that country.

Afghans. Their hatred of Pakistan is not permanent, and neither are their ethnic hatreds among each other.

Post-US, Pakistan will have to take an active part in educating Afghan people with the true spirit of Islam, devoid of political aims.

It has not been possible for Afghanistan, the birthplace of so many great heroes and poets, to secure a place for itself in the present.

Afghans will have to ponder deeply on what is the role of Afghanistan in their neighborhood, who is their true enemy, and who are their true friends.

 

[BHarwana]

Okay first the article is quoting a former ambassador so the person issuing threats on behalf of Arabs has been fired out of the office.
Now on subject. Pakistan and Iran relation has nothing to do with Pakistan Arab relation. Like UAE investing in India is not our concern in the same way Pakistan coming close to Iran is not our concern.
Secondly trade with Iran is on the rise so every one has its priority.

 

[Yankee-stani]

Afghans. Their hatred of Pakistan is not permanent, and neither are their ethnic hatreds among each other.

Post-US, Pakistan will have to take an active part in educating Afghan people with the true spirit of Islam, devoid of political aims.

It has not been possible for Afghanistan, the birthplace of so many great heroes and poets, to secure a place for itself in the present.

Afghans will have to ponder deeply on what is the role of Afghanistan in their neighborhood, who is their true enemy, and who are their true friends.

I wish that could happen but we gotta look at reality I have met most Afghans even the ones who spent a decade in Pakistan got Pakistani passport and everything yet they spit on our flag,burn it and almost constantly talk s...t about Pakistan and their love for their Indian masters besides even from 1947 till now they dont consider us as brothers but as enemies let me get a timeline from a fellow posters here and show you are so called "brothers".


Timeline of Afghan Treachery:

• 14 Aug 1947: Pakistan was founded. A country having fractured institutions, almost no economy, weak military and apparently bleak future, fighting for survival in the face of a giant hostile neighbour like India at its throat.

• September 1947: Afghanistan became the ONLY country to vote against Pakistan’s membership of United Nations. Keep in mind the weak situation of Pakistan while considering this extremely hostile beginning by Afghanistan.

• September 1947: Pashtunistan flag was raised alongside Afghan national flag in Kabul.

• September 1947: Afghanistan started arming and funding proxies in the border areas (e.g. Afridi Sarishtas and Ipi Faqir) for the ‘Liberation of Pashtunistan’. This led to skirmishes between Pakistani forces and Afghan proxies.

• June 1949: While pursuing miscreants who attacked Pakistani border posts from Afghanistan, a PAF warplane inadvertently bombed the Afghan village of Moghulgai on the Waziristan border.

• July 1949: A Loya Jirga held by Afghan govt at Kabul unilaterally denounced all treaties related to Pak-Afghan international border and announced full support for Pashtunistan. 31 August was declared as ‘Pashtunistan Day’ which was regularly commemorated by Afghan govt every year.

• 1948-1949: Afghan-supported proxies announced the formation of ‘Pashtunistan’ in Tirah (Khyber) and Razmak (Waziristan), with Ipi Faqir as President.

• 1950: Afghan airforce planes dropped leaflets in support of Pashtunistan, inside Pakistan’s tribal areas.

• Sep-Oct 1950: Afghan army with artillery support attacked Dobandi area of Balochistan and occupied a strategic pass with the aim to cut off Chaman-Quetta Railway link. Pak army rushed reinforcements to the area and retook the pass after a week’s fighting.

• 1950-51: Three Afghan-led Lashkars attacked Pakistani areas across Durand Line in Khyber Agency.

• Afghanistan declared the miscreants as ‘Freedom Fighters’ and used its official Radio and Press for non-stop Pashtunistan propaganda.

• Pakistan responded by using ‘go slow’ approach on Afghanistan’s trade transit routes.

• 16 October 1951: Pakistani PM Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead in Rawalpindi by an Afghan national Said Akbar Babrak. Afghanistan’s govt disowned his act.

• Afghanistan’s material+propaganda support for Pashtunistan miscreants continued unabated throughout the 1950s.

• 30 March 1955: Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in Kabul, Qandahar, Jalalabad were attacked at the behest of Afghan govt and Pashtunistan flag was hoisted on the chancery of Pakistan Embassy in Kabul.

• September 1959: Afghan King Zahir Shah and PM Sardar Daud reaffirmed their support for Pashtunistan.

• September 1960: Afghan army troops and militias attacked Bajaur. The attack was repulsed by Bajauri tribesmen with help of SSG forces from Cherat. An account of the battle is here in this declassified US Embassy document.

• March 1961: Afghanistan supplied arms and ammunition to proxies led by Pacha Gul in Bajaur’s Batmalai area for an uprising. The ammunition dump was destroyed by PAF aerial bombing.

• May 1961: Thousands of Afghan troops disguised as militias attacked Bajaur, Jandul and Khyber. The attacks were repulsed by tribesmen with support of Frontier Corps and aerial bombing by PAF warplanes. President Ayub warned the Afghan side against unprovoked escalations.

• Afghanistan’s official annual gazette (Afghanistan Kalany) propagated outrageous claims on Pashtunistan regularly. A couple of snapshots from the 1961 gazette are shown here. The 1961 gazette alone narrated the deaths of thousands of Pakistani soldiers in miscreant attacks by ‘Milli Mujahideen of Pashtunistan’; obviously a pack of lies (Talk about ‘proxy wars’ though :p ).

• 6 September 1961: Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan were cut off after Pakistan decided to restrict Afghan transit trade due to its continuous support for Pashtunistan proxies. The relations were resumed two years later, in 1963, when Sardar Doud (the main engine behind Pashtunistan) resigned as PM.

• September 1964: Afghan Loya Jirga again reiterated support for Pashtunistan (though much mildly than in past).

• 1964-1972: Relative calm in relations due to Afghanistan’s domestic power struggle issues and democracy experiments. The Pashtunistan issue went on backburner and Pak-Afghan relations normalized to such extent that Afghanistan remained neutral in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars and didn’t try to trouble Pakistan. However, Pashtunistan propaganda by Radio Kabul continued unabated, giving fabricated accounts of hundreds of killings on Pakistani side annually.

• 1972-73: Afghanistan restarted support for Pashtunistan; intensified Radio Kabul propaganda and sheltered NAP activists led by Ajmal Khattak.

• July 1973: Sardar Doud led a bloodless military coup to overthrow King Zahir Shah and declared himself President. One of the reasons he quoted for the coup was Zahir Shah’s supposedly soft approach on Pashtunistan.

• Afghan official gazette published the Pashtunistan flag (image attached) and also ran inflammatory reports about terrorist activities of Pashtunistan miscreants. Radio Kabul’s propaganda reached a peak.

• 1973: In response to renewed Pashtunistan focus by Afghanistan, Pakistani PM Z.A.Bhutto authorized a tit-for-tat response to Afghanistan. IGFC Naseerullah Babar was tasked to train dissident Afghans for proxy purposes inside Afghanistan. This was Pakistan’s first act to use proxies against Afghanistan, after 26-year long proxy war perpetrated by Afghanistan in the name of Pashtunistan (1947-73).

• Feb 1974: Afghan animosity to Pakistan was so great that Afghan President Doud didn’t participate in the ‘OIC Leaders Summit’ held in Lahore. Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, the Afghan delegate at the summit, tried to raise Pashtunistan issue on this Unity forum too but got snubbed as no Muslim country’s leader paid any heed.

• 1973-78: Soon after Doud assumed power, Afghan govt started supporting the Baloch insurgents fighting against Pakistan. Afghanistan sheltered thousands of Marri tribesmen and gave them training+weapons for militant activities inside Pakistan. Pakistan crushed the insurgency with Iranian military support.

• 1973-78: Afghan govt under Doud continued to support the Pashtunistan proxies. NAP’s militant wing ‘Pakhtun Zalmay’ was funded / trained / armed by Kabul for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. These facts have been confirmed by Jumma Khan Sufi, a close aide of Ajmal Khattak, in his memoirs ‘Faraib e Na Tamam’. Sufi remained in exile for 20 years in Afghanistan and was involved in the Afghan proxy activities in Pakistan.

• 1973-onwards: Not only was Afghanistan supporting NAP terrorism in Pakistan itself, it also became a hub for Indian interference into Pakistan via Pashtunistan and Balochistan proxies. NAP leaders were paid monthly stipends and other funds by Indian govt as admitted by Jumma Khan Sufi in his memoirs.

• February 1975: Hayat Khan Sherpao, Senior PPP minister and ex-Governor NWFP, was killed in a bomb blast. The assassination was carried out by NAP militant wing operating out of Afghanistan (as confirmed by Jumma Khan Sufi some three decades later).

• April 1978: Afghan President Doud and his whole family were massacred in the Soviet-sponsored ‘Saur Revolution’. The new pro-Communist regime announced all-out support for Pashtunistan.

• December 1979: Soviet secret service KGB assassinated Afghanistan’s President Hafizullah Amin and nearly 100,000 Soviet forces entered Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal was installed as President by Soviets who pledged to free the ‘holy land of Pashtunistan’ (from Pakistan).

• January 1980: UN General Assembly passed resolution on Afghanistan and asked unequivocally for pull-out of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

• OIC also held an extra-ordinary session of OIC Foreign Ministers in which the leaders of Afghanistan resistance movement narrated the ordeal of Afghans at the hands of Soviet invaders. OIC condemned the Soviet invasion in a joint resolution of Islamic countries.

• 1980-1991: Every year UN passed a resolution condemning Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. There are a total 13 such UN resolutions.

• 1979-81: Soon after the Soviet occupation, millions of Afghans were forced to flee their homes by Soviet atrocities especially aerial bombing of rural Afghanistan. KGB and its Afghan front KHAD (led by Dr Najibullah) made life hell for anybody who even dared to speak against the Communist regime. Thousands of innocents Afghans were killed brutally in KHAD torture cells across Afghanistan. These worn-down Afghans entered Pakistan and Iran in search of shelter.

• Pakistan, not being signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, was not legally bound to shelter the millions refugees. However, in good brotherly faith, Pakistan accepted this burden on its economy and already limited resources. Nearly 3 million Afghan refugees were housed in refugee camps in KP and Balochistan. Many more spread into cities from Peshawar to Lahore to Karachi in search of work or businesses. Unlike Iran, Pakistan didn’t stop the mingling of Afghan refugees into Pakistani society so as to facilitate them (something that proved disastrous for Pakistan in the long run).

• 1980-89: With a Superpower (USSR) knocking at its Western border, Pakistan felt genuinely threatened. The prospect of a direct Soviet invasion or indirect Pashtunistan proxy war was enough to alarm Islamabad and force it into full throttle against the regime in Kabul. Pakistan, USA, China and Arab countries made an alliance to counter the Soviet threat using the legitimate Afghan resistance movement that already existed in Afghanistan. With funds from USA and Arab states; technical support from CIA; weapons from China; training and coordination support from ISI, the Afghan resistance movement consisting of various groups took on the Soviet forces and their Afghan comrades.

• Main Afghan resistance groups were Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar), Jamiat-e-Islami of Rabbani (including Massoud's Shura-e-Nezar), Hizb-e-Islami (Khaalis), Ittehad-e-Islami (Sayyaf), Harkat-e-Inquilab-e-Islami (Nabi Mohammedi), Mahaz-e-Islami (Gilani), Jabha Milli Nijat (Mojaddedi) and the so-called 'Tehran Eight block' of several Shia groups, chief among them (Abdul Ali Mazari's Nasr group).

• The Afghan resistance against Soviets had strong backing of repeated UN and OIC resolutions. Also the suffering of common Afghans at the hands of Soviets was not something that could have been ignored. Couple with that the activities of Soviet+Afghan proxies in Pakistan (from bombings to target killings to plane hijacking), Pakistan had little choice but to support the resistance. Afghanistan continued to host/fund/train/arm Pashtunistan proxies as well as terrorist groups like Al-Zulfiqar throughout 1980s.

• 1980s: Hundreds of Pakistanis were killed in terrorist attacks staged by KHAD and corss-border raids conducted by Soviet/Afghan forces including aerial bombing. A glimpse of the attacks in a brief period of 1987-88 is shown in pic.

• 1989: Soviet forces officially left Afghanistan (although large numbers of Soviet ‘military advisors’ remained in Afghanistan upto 1992).

• 1989-1992: Afghan resistance groups continued fighting against the Communist regime of President Dr Najibullah installed by Soviets. Village after village, City after city and province after province fell to the resistance movement.

• 1992: Dr Najibullah regime was overthrown and Afghan resistance groups captured Kabul. Pakistan facilitated the ‘Peshawar Accord’ for a consensus govt in Afghanistan and Sibghatullah Mojadedi was made transition President, succeeded by Burhanuddin Rabbani.

• Could the Afghan War be managed better? This is open to debate; especially since the after-effects of Soviet departure from Afghanistan couldn’t be managed well due to internal fighting of various resistance groups.

1992-1994: Different factions fought for control of Kabul and other major Afghan cities. Hezb-e-Wahdat (backed by Iran), Ittihad-e-Islami (backed by Arabs), Hezb-e-Islami (backed by Pakistan), Junbash-e-Milli (Uzbeks), Jamiat-e-Islami and Shura-e-Nazar (Tajiks), Harkat-Inquilab (Nabi Muhammadi), Molvi Khalis and Jalaluddin Haqqani’s forces and countless local warlords fought each other for power. Afghanistan was literally a mess; USA abandoned the resistance movement after Soviet withdrawal and ALL players were playing their own game.

• August 1994: Taliban movement emerged under Mullah Omar in Qandahar. The movement pledged to end the atrocities of the so-called ‘Toopakiyan’ (warlords). Therefore, it was largely welcomed by the public who were sick of the civil war.

• October 1994: Emergence of Taliban movement didn’t go unnoticed in Islamabad. Pakistan was fed up with the civil war because its hopes that millions of Afghans burdening its economy would return to their homeland were failed by the civil war. Since majority of the Taliban were refugee students of madressas in Balochistan, it was natural that Pakistan saw an ally in the movement.

Although Pakistan was accused of arming the Taliban, it sounds ridiculous keeping in view the fact that Afghanistan already was a big dump of Soviet-era weapons. Taliban captured weapons including tanks from local warlords and with a steady supply of religiously-motivated fighters, they soon marched beyond Qandahar and by September 1996, were in control of Kabul.

• 1996-2001: Taliban ruled Afghanistan and the country saw relative peace for the first time in decades, except in the North where Taliban battled Ahmad Shah Massoud’s forces, throught their 5-year rule. Taliban actions and their harsh style of governance was not liked by many Afghans but resentment grew steadily amongst the public.

• Oct~Nov 2001: USA-led coalition attacked Afghanistan and removed Taliban from power. Taliban regime collapsed in the face of severe aerial bombing by USA/NATO and ground advance by Northern Alliance forces. By December 2001, Taliban had vanished from the Afghan scene; many of them fled to neighbouring Pakistan.

• 2002-2014: Taliban resistance to US occupation was very weak initially (upto 2005). It was hoped that Afghanistan would finally find stability but the Karzai administration failed to seize the moment. Widespread corruption and warlord-ism under Karzai rule paved way for the return of Taliban. Year-after-year Taliban activities gained momentum as US/NATO forces battled them across Afghanistan.

• In the meanwhile a Pakistani Taliban movement (TTP) rose in Pakistan’s tribal areas with links across the border. Thousands of Pakistanis including security forces and civilians died in TTP attacks. Today, whole top leadership of TTP, from Mullah Fazlullah to Omar Khalid Khurasani and Khalid Sajna to Omar Narai (APS attack mastermind) is based in Afghanistan.

Source: http://nomadkhan.blogspot.com/2016/07/pakistan-ruined-afghanistan-myths-and

No. You must keep in mind even if it divided the entities post such division will play out the hatreds and rivalries you see at present. In addition the ethnic groups do not have clear lines of division. There are lots of grey areas that would cause mass migration and killing. On top of that if that Afghanistan is divided along ethnic lines we would be by default legitimizing new ethnic states. The exact same foruma could be applied to Pakistan we are also a multi ethnic federation.

I think the solution lies squarely in the hands of Afghanistan's neighbours. In a circle going west. Pakistan, Iran, Russia and China. Afghanistan sits locked between these four. So these four have a absolute, yes absolute monopply over Afghanistan. If these four work together no outsider can do anything in Afghanistan. Therefore the solution is the four must work together and dictate what and how Afghanistan evolves. As it is the four have not worked together - in particular Pakistan worked with a outsider, USA and let them inside Afghanistan who of course rewarded Pakistan by letting in India.

The only solution left now is the four have to be on the same page and slowly squeeze USA out. If the four work together they will prevail. That is obvious. Look at the geography.

Look who holds the four keys to Afghanistan.




Yeah division is easier said than done not likely to occur but for those groups who dont want be part of Afg should be moved to their neighboring states.As for the Yanks they need to leave and those four nations you mentioned should join and support groups against Yanks in Afg

 

[Indus Pakistan]

I wish that could happen but we gotta look at reality

You gave a long list. I will just give you one number -

• 20,000,000 or 20 million.

That is the number of allied losses in lives at the hands of Germans in just one war in the 20th century. Yet today France, UK, Denmark, Poland etc are at perfect peace with Germany. Mature nations have to work past their issues for the greater good.

 

[Yankee-stani]

You gave a long list. I will just give you one number -

• 20,000,000 or 20 million.

That is the number of allied losses in lives at the hands of Germans in just one war in the 20th century. Yet today France, UK, Denmark, Poland etc are at perfect peace with Germany. Mature nations have to work past their issues for the greater good.

Of Course I want better relations with Afghanistan but its starts with their people shedding their mentality of Pakistan being the root cause of their problems also they should stop listening to their Indian masters in Delhi also

 

[smartlion]

Many people are still living in memories, wake up this is Sept 2018. Every nation has the right to defend itself. Wait and see what new regime of Pakistan will deliver.

 

[Max]

What kind of article is this? since when Iran started to be issue in US Pakistan ties?

 

[Yankee-stani]

What kind of article is this? since when Iran started to be issue in US Pakistan ties?

Typical Gulf Arab rag paper

 

[SQ8]

What kind of article is this? since when Iran started to be issue in US Pakistan ties?

Muft ke Abdullah deewanay Urbis.
The Iran engagement has only the UAE truly irked since they are now seeking to be the power player in the middle east competing with the Qataris. The Saudis are currently "listening" to our explanation on why we are trying to calm the Iranian border down.

 

[Pan-Islamic-Pakistan]

I wish that could happen but we gotta look at reality I have met most Afghans even the ones who spent a decade in Pakistan got Pakistani passport and everything yet they spit on our flag,burn it and almost constantly talk s...t about Pakistan and their love for their Indian masters besides even from 1947 till now they dont consider us as brothers but as enemies let me get a timeline from a fellow posters here and show you are so called "brothers".


Timeline of Afghan Treachery:

• 14 Aug 1947: Pakistan was founded. A country having fractured institutions, almost no economy, weak military and apparently bleak future, fighting for survival in the face of a giant hostile neighbour like India at its throat.

• September 1947: Afghanistan became the ONLY country to vote against Pakistan’s membership of United Nations. Keep in mind the weak situation of Pakistan while considering this extremely hostile beginning by Afghanistan.

• September 1947: Pashtunistan flag was raised alongside Afghan national flag in Kabul.

• September 1947: Afghanistan started arming and funding proxies in the border areas (e.g. Afridi Sarishtas and Ipi Faqir) for the ‘Liberation of Pashtunistan’. This led to skirmishes between Pakistani forces and Afghan proxies.

• June 1949: While pursuing miscreants who attacked Pakistani border posts from Afghanistan, a PAF warplane inadvertently bombed the Afghan village of Moghulgai on the Waziristan border.

• July 1949: A Loya Jirga held by Afghan govt at Kabul unilaterally denounced all treaties related to Pak-Afghan international border and announced full support for Pashtunistan. 31 August was declared as ‘Pashtunistan Day’ which was regularly commemorated by Afghan govt every year.

• 1948-1949: Afghan-supported proxies announced the formation of ‘Pashtunistan’ in Tirah (Khyber) and Razmak (Waziristan), with Ipi Faqir as President.

• 1950: Afghan airforce planes dropped leaflets in support of Pashtunistan, inside Pakistan’s tribal areas.

• Sep-Oct 1950: Afghan army with artillery support attacked Dobandi area of Balochistan and occupied a strategic pass with the aim to cut off Chaman-Quetta Railway link. Pak army rushed reinforcements to the area and retook the pass after a week’s fighting.

• 1950-51: Three Afghan-led Lashkars attacked Pakistani areas across Durand Line in Khyber Agency.

• Afghanistan declared the miscreants as ‘Freedom Fighters’ and used its official Radio and Press for non-stop Pashtunistan propaganda.

• Pakistan responded by using ‘go slow’ approach on Afghanistan’s trade transit routes.

• 16 October 1951: Pakistani PM Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead in Rawalpindi by an Afghan national Said Akbar Babrak. Afghanistan’s govt disowned his act.

• Afghanistan’s material+propaganda support for Pashtunistan miscreants continued unabated throughout the 1950s.

• 30 March 1955: Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in Kabul, Qandahar, Jalalabad were attacked at the behest of Afghan govt and Pashtunistan flag was hoisted on the chancery of Pakistan Embassy in Kabul.

• September 1959: Afghan King Zahir Shah and PM Sardar Daud reaffirmed their support for Pashtunistan.

• September 1960: Afghan army troops and militias attacked Bajaur. The attack was repulsed by Bajauri tribesmen with help of SSG forces from Cherat. An account of the battle is here in this declassified US Embassy document.

• 
  
  
  • March 1961: Afghanistan supplied arms and ammunition to proxies led by Pacha Gul in Bajaur’s Batmalai area for an uprising. The ammunition dump was destroyed by PAF aerial bombing.

• 
  
  
  • May 1961: Thousands of Afghan troops disguised as militias attacked Bajaur, Jandul and Khyber. The attacks were repulsed by tribesmen with support of Frontier Corps and aerial bombing by PAF warplanes. President Ayub warned the Afghan side against unprovoked escalations.

• 
  
  
  • Afghanistan’s official annual gazette (Afghanistan Kalany) propagated outrageous claims on Pashtunistan regularly. A couple of snapshots from the 1961 gazette are shown here. The 1961 gazette alone narrated the deaths of thousands of Pakistani soldiers in miscreant attacks by ‘Milli Mujahideen of Pashtunistan’; obviously a pack of lies (Talk about ‘proxy wars’ though :p ).

• 
  
  
  • 6 September 1961: Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan were cut off after Pakistan decided to restrict Afghan transit trade due to its continuous support for Pashtunistan proxies. The relations were resumed two years later, in 1963, when Sardar Doud (the main engine behind Pashtunistan) resigned as PM.

• 
  
  
  • September 1964: Afghan Loya Jirga again reiterated support for Pashtunistan (though much mildly than in past).

• 
  
  
  • 1964-1972: Relative calm in relations due to Afghanistan’s domestic power struggle issues and democracy experiments. The Pashtunistan issue went on backburner and Pak-Afghan relations normalized to such extent that Afghanistan remained neutral in 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars and didn’t try to trouble Pakistan. However, Pashtunistan propaganda by Radio Kabul continued unabated, giving fabricated accounts of hundreds of killings on Pakistani side annually.

• 
  
  
  • 1972-73: Afghanistan restarted support for Pashtunistan; intensified Radio Kabul propaganda and sheltered NAP activists led by Ajmal Khattak.

• 
  
  
  • July 1973: Sardar Doud led a bloodless military coup to overthrow King Zahir Shah and declared himself President. One of the reasons he quoted for the coup was Zahir Shah’s supposedly soft approach on Pashtunistan.

• 
  
  
  • Afghan official gazette published the Pashtunistan flag (image attached) and also ran inflammatory reports about terrorist activities of Pashtunistan miscreants. Radio Kabul’s propaganda reached a peak.

• 
  
  
  • 1973: In response to renewed Pashtunistan focus by Afghanistan, Pakistani PM Z.A.Bhutto authorized a tit-for-tat response to Afghanistan. IGFC Naseerullah Babar was tasked to train dissident Afghans for proxy purposes inside Afghanistan. This was Pakistan’s first act to use proxies against Afghanistan, after 26-year long proxy war perpetrated by Afghanistan in the name of Pashtunistan (1947-73).

• 
  
  
  • Feb 1974: Afghan animosity to Pakistan was so great that Afghan President Doud didn’t participate in the ‘OIC Leaders Summit’ held in Lahore. Abdul Rahman Pazhwak, the Afghan delegate at the summit, tried to raise Pashtunistan issue on this Unity forum too but got snubbed as no Muslim country’s leader paid any heed.

• 
  
  
  • 1973-78: Soon after Doud assumed power, Afghan govt started supporting the Baloch insurgents fighting against Pakistan. Afghanistan sheltered thousands of Marri tribesmen and gave them training+weapons for militant activities inside Pakistan. Pakistan crushed the insurgency with Iranian military support.

• 
  
  
  • 1973-78: Afghan govt under Doud continued to support the Pashtunistan proxies. NAP’s militant wing ‘Pakhtun Zalmay’ was funded / trained / armed by Kabul for terrorist attacks in Pakistan. These facts have been confirmed by Jumma Khan Sufi, a close aide of Ajmal Khattak, in his memoirs ‘Faraib e Na Tamam’. Sufi remained in exile for 20 years in Afghanistan and was involved in the Afghan proxy activities in Pakistan.

• 
  
  
  • 1973-onwards: Not only was Afghanistan supporting NAP terrorism in Pakistan itself, it also became a hub for Indian interference into Pakistan via Pashtunistan and Balochistan proxies. NAP leaders were paid monthly stipends and other funds by Indian govt as admitted by Jumma Khan Sufi in his memoirs.

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  • February 1975: Hayat Khan Sherpao, Senior PPP minister and ex-Governor NWFP, was killed in a bomb blast. The assassination was carried out by NAP militant wing operating out of Afghanistan (as confirmed by Jumma Khan Sufi some three decades later).

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  • April 1978: Afghan President Doud and his whole family were massacred in the Soviet-sponsored ‘Saur Revolution’. The new pro-Communist regime announced all-out support for Pashtunistan.

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  • December 1979: Soviet secret service KGB assassinated Afghanistan’s President Hafizullah Amin and nearly 100,000 Soviet forces entered Afghanistan. Babrak Karmal was installed as President by Soviets who pledged to free the ‘holy land of Pashtunistan’ (from Pakistan).

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  • January 1980: UN General Assembly passed resolution on Afghanistan and asked unequivocally for pull-out of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

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  • OIC also held an extra-ordinary session of OIC Foreign Ministers in which the leaders of Afghanistan resistance movement narrated the ordeal of Afghans at the hands of Soviet invaders. OIC condemned the Soviet invasion in a joint resolution of Islamic countries.

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  • 1980-1991: Every year UN passed a resolution condemning Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. There are a total 13 such UN resolutions.

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  • 1979-81: Soon after the Soviet occupation, millions of Afghans were forced to flee their homes by Soviet atrocities especially aerial bombing of rural Afghanistan. KGB and its Afghan front KHAD (led by Dr Najibullah) made life hell for anybody who even dared to speak against the Communist regime. Thousands of innocents Afghans were killed brutally in KHAD torture cells across Afghanistan. These worn-down Afghans entered Pakistan and Iran in search of shelter.

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  • Pakistan, not being signatory to the 1951 UN Convention on Refugees, was not legally bound to shelter the millions refugees. However, in good brotherly faith, Pakistan accepted this burden on its economy and already limited resources. Nearly 3 million Afghan refugees were housed in refugee camps in KP and Balochistan. Many more spread into cities from Peshawar to Lahore to Karachi in search of work or businesses. Unlike Iran, Pakistan didn’t stop the mingling of Afghan refugees into Pakistani society so as to facilitate them (something that proved disastrous for Pakistan in the long run).

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  • 1980-89: With a Superpower (USSR) knocking at its Western border, Pakistan felt genuinely threatened. The prospect of a direct Soviet invasion or indirect Pashtunistan proxy war was enough to alarm Islamabad and force it into full throttle against the regime in Kabul. Pakistan, USA, China and Arab countries made an alliance to counter the Soviet threat using the legitimate Afghan resistance movement that already existed in Afghanistan. With funds from USA and Arab states; technical support from CIA; weapons from China; training and coordination support from ISI, the Afghan resistance movement consisting of various groups took on the Soviet forces and their Afghan comrades.

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  • Main Afghan resistance groups were Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar), Jamiat-e-Islami of Rabbani (including Massoud's Shura-e-Nezar), Hizb-e-Islami (Khaalis), Ittehad-e-Islami (Sayyaf), Harkat-e-Inquilab-e-Islami (Nabi Mohammedi), Mahaz-e-Islami (Gilani), Jabha Milli Nijat (Mojaddedi) and the so-called 'Tehran Eight block' of several Shia groups, chief among them (Abdul Ali Mazari's Nasr group).

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  • The Afghan resistance against Soviets had strong backing of repeated UN and OIC resolutions. Also the suffering of common Afghans at the hands of Soviets was not something that could have been ignored. Couple with that the activities of Soviet+Afghan proxies in Pakistan (from bombings to target killings to plane hijacking), Pakistan had little choice but to support the resistance. Afghanistan continued to host/fund/train/arm Pashtunistan proxies as well as terrorist groups like Al-Zulfiqar throughout 1980s.

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  • 1980s: Hundreds of Pakistanis were killed in terrorist attacks staged by KHAD and corss-border raids conducted by Soviet/Afghan forces including aerial bombing. A glimpse of the attacks in a brief period of 1987-88 is shown in pic.

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  • 1989: Soviet forces officially left Afghanistan (although large numbers of Soviet ‘military advisors’ remained in Afghanistan upto 1992).

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  • 1989-1992: Afghan resistance groups continued fighting against the Communist regime of President Dr Najibullah installed by Soviets. Village after village, City after city and province after province fell to the resistance movement.

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  • 1992: Dr Najibullah regime was overthrown and Afghan resistance groups captured Kabul. Pakistan facilitated the ‘Peshawar Accord’ for a consensus govt in Afghanistan and Sibghatullah Mojadedi was made transition President, succeeded by Burhanuddin Rabbani.

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  • Could the Afghan War be managed better? This is open to debate; especially since the after-effects of Soviet departure from Afghanistan couldn’t be managed well due to internal fighting of various resistance groups.

1992-1994: Different factions fought for control of Kabul and other major Afghan cities. Hezb-e-Wahdat (backed by Iran), Ittihad-e-Islami (backed by Arabs), Hezb-e-Islami (backed by Pakistan), Junbash-e-Milli (Uzbeks), Jamiat-e-Islami and Shura-e-Nazar (Tajiks), Harkat-Inquilab (Nabi Muhammadi), Molvi Khalis and Jalaluddin Haqqani’s forces and countless local warlords fought each other for power. Afghanistan was literally a mess; USA abandoned the resistance movement after Soviet withdrawal and ALL players were playing their own game.

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  • August 1994: Taliban movement emerged under Mullah Omar in Qandahar. The movement pledged to end the atrocities of the so-called ‘Toopakiyan’ (warlords). Therefore, it was largely welcomed by the public who were sick of the civil war.

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  • October 1994: Emergence of Taliban movement didn’t go unnoticed in Islamabad. Pakistan was fed up with the civil war because its hopes that millions of Afghans burdening its economy would return to their homeland were failed by the civil war. Since majority of the Taliban were refugee students of madressas in Balochistan, it was natural that Pakistan saw an ally in the movement.

Although Pakistan was accused of arming the Taliban, it sounds ridiculous keeping in view the fact that Afghanistan already was a big dump of Soviet-era weapons. Taliban captured weapons including tanks from local warlords and with a steady supply of religiously-motivated fighters, they soon marched beyond Qandahar and by September 1996, were in control of Kabul.

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  • 1996-2001: Taliban ruled Afghanistan and the country saw relative peace for the first time in decades, except in the North where Taliban battled Ahmad Shah Massoud’s forces, throught their 5-year rule. Taliban actions and their harsh style of governance was not liked by many Afghans but resentment grew steadily amongst the public.

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  • Oct~Nov 2001: USA-led coalition attacked Afghanistan and removed Taliban from power. Taliban regime collapsed in the face of severe aerial bombing by USA/NATO and ground advance by Northern Alliance forces. By December 2001, Taliban had vanished from the Afghan scene; many of them fled to neighbouring Pakistan.

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  • 2002-2014: Taliban resistance to US occupation was very weak initially (upto 2005). It was hoped that Afghanistan would finally find stability but the Karzai administration failed to seize the moment. Widespread corruption and warlord-ism under Karzai rule paved way for the return of Taliban. Year-after-year Taliban activities gained momentum as US/NATO forces battled them across Afghanistan.

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  • In the meanwhile a Pakistani Taliban movement (TTP) rose in Pakistan’s tribal areas with links across the border. Thousands of Pakistanis including security forces and civilians died in TTP attacks. Today, whole top leadership of TTP, from Mullah Fazlullah to Omar Khalid Khurasani and Khalid Sajna to Omar Narai (APS attack mastermind) is based in Afghanistan.

Source: http://nomadkhan.blogspot.com/2016/07/pakistan-ruined-afghanistan-myths-and

Thanks for the post. We should tread forward for our interests in Afghanistan. Obviously our policy to not engage Afghanistan has failed, leading to it becoming a hotbed of anti-Pakistan terrorists and Indian proxies.

Re-education, peace, and increasing Afghan standard of living should be paramount. If Pakistan can play a decisive role in ending the occupation and restoring normalcy in Afghanistan, we will earn goodwill from our neighbors.

This is a new chapter of Pakistan-Afghan relations which is beginning now.

 

[925boy]

Muslims are the super power on Planet Earth.

YOU WIIISHHH

Pakistan gave everything to USA -

...in return for financial, military and political benefits. Accept the trade off/deal.

gave Afghanistan to our arch enemy India on US behest.

But Taliban you support has given you the biggest chunk of "Afghanistan". Are you saying US is controlling Afghanistan through India?

gave up gas from Iran when the country was facing massive energy deficit

Because the economic benefits from US and Arab Sheikhdoms was more valuable to Pakistan.Pakistan just went for the "highest bidder".

gave up our sovereignty by allowing USA to bomb our own people in FATA.

...and those people are terrorists like TTP that have become too big a headache for you guys to do on your own,so US came to help you AND them get rid of those types of terrrorists. Most of the time these days US hits the terorrists though.

gave up our bases to US for it to install Tajiks, our enemies in Kabul.

Why are you jealous of unstable and unsustainable Afghan currently in Kabul when your Taliban proxy is having its biggest resurgence in years? If Taliban enters afghan govt, which they probably will eventually that will hand Pakistan alot of leverage. l

And after all this what did Pakistan get from USA? "Do more".


* Guess what guys? The free ride is over, Pakistan will do what is best for Pakistan. Period. And we have people in charge who will do what is in best interests of Pakistan instead of handing ovrer our posteriors to USA every time they said "do more".

Pakistan was never doing anything for free. Pakistan has always been calculating and acting on her cost-benefit analysis with the US. Remember this is Trump administration, not Barack Hosseini or George Bush. I'm not surprised heat has cranked up on Pakistan from US.

But to answer your thread title question, my answer is NO. Pakistan literally cannot afford to support Iran in relation to confronting the US.