Breaking the myths of Pakistan ruining Afghanistan

There’s only so much insult a friend can bear

Operating on the Chanakyan dictum of “repeating a lie so often that it appears to be the truth”, Afghanistan has been alleging that Pakistan has been ruining Afghanistan. The time has come to break this myth and set the record straight. Pakistani tribal Pashtun journalist Shah Zalmay Khan’s three recent Op-Eds titled: ‘Pakistan Ruined Afghanistan? Myths and Facts’, ‘Pushtoonistan: Myths & Facts’ and ‘Durand Line: Myths & Facts’ help shatter the shibboleth and myths being spread by Afghanistan for over decades.

Let us take the allegations one by one. The first is Pakistan interfering in Afghanistan. History proves it to be the other way around. Pakistan was founded on August 14, 1947 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. Afghanistan became the only country to vote against Pakistan’s membership of United Nations. Simultaneously, Pashtunistan flag was raised alongside Afghan national flag in Kabul, while 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.

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

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

Between September and October 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. Pakistani army rushed reinforcements to the area and retook the pass after a week’s fighting.

On October 16, 1951, Pakistani PM Liaquat Ali Khan was shot dead in Rawalpindi by an Afghan national Said Akbar Babrak. Afghan government disowned his act but its propaganda and support for separatists continued unabated.

On March 30, 1955, Pakistan’s diplomatic missions in Kabul, Qandahar, and Jalalabad were attacked at the behest of Afghan government and Pashtunistan flag was hoisted on the chancery of Pakistan Embassy in Kabul. In 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 found in a declassified US Embassy document number D-92 of January 25, 1961 from its Consul at Peshawar.

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 in March 1961. In 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. On September 6, 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 Daud (the main engine behind Pashtunistan) resigned as Prime Minister.

Between 1972 and 73, Afghanistan restarted support for Pashtunistan; intensified Radio Kabul propaganda and sheltered NAP activists led by Ajmal Khattak. In July 1973, Sardar Daud 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.

In 1973, in response to renewed Pashtunistan focus by Afghanistan, Pakistani PM Z.A. Bhutto authorised 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).

Afghan animosity to Pakistan was so great that Afghan President Daud didn’t participate in the ‘OIC Leaders Summit’ held in Lahore in February 1974. 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.

Soon after Daud assumed power, Afghan government 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.

In 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).

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

Soon after the Soviet occupation, between 1979 and 1981, 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 5 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).

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 comprising various groups took on the Soviet forces and their Afghan comrades. Resultantly, in 1989, the Soviets were forced to withdraw from Afghanistan but not before terror attacks by Soviet and their Afghan proxies shook the length and breadth of Pakistan. A heavy price was paid by Pakistan for its support of Afghan Mujahedeen.

US and other allies left Afghanistan, with various warlords armed to the teeth. Internecine warfare raged in Afghanistan till the Taliban took control. Theirs was a repressive regime, while the Afghan Mujahedeen and Arab Jihadist, looking for fresh targets, led by Osama bin Laden, launched the 9/11 attacks on USA.

Once again Afghanistan was on international radar. The US asked the Taliban regime to hand over Osama bin Laden, the alleged perpetrator of 9/11 attacks for international trials but despite Pakistan’s urging, the Taliban regime refused, resulting in the invasion of Afghanistan by US and NATO forces. Pakistan had no option but to side with the allies. The Taliban were defeated but not eliminated. Pakistan, on the other hand, bore the brunt of the war in Afghanistan. More Afghan refugees entered Pakistan while Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders sought refuge in the treacherous border region of Pakistan. Their Pakistani compatriots Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) wreaked havoc on Pakistan, making it the target of blatant terror attacks, in which over 60,000 Pakistanis were martyred.

After fifteen years, the US and NATO forces withdrew from Afghanistan but the Taliban got stronger. Pakistan continues to provide intelligence on the terrorists but TTP leadership is hiding in Afghanistan. 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. The inherent weaknesses of Afghan regimes and their failure to curb terror attacks continue to take its toll but the Afghans blame Pakistan for all their woes.

Durand Line, the frontier between British India and Afghanistan that purportedly divided the Pashtunistan region, is a bone of contention, with Afghanistan claiming that the treaty is dead so the region must be re-united post-1947.
The fact is that Durand Line Agreement was neither time-bound (no 100-year expiry as believed by many in Afghanistan) nor it was an agreement done by Ameer Abdul Rahman without consulting his government (Durand Line demarcation was concluded in 3 years from 1894-96 with extensive involvement of Afghan government). The Durand Line Agreement was not a ‘one-off affair’ by Ameer Abdul Rahman (as it was ratified by Afghan Ameer Habibullah Khan in 1905; again by Afghan government in 1919 and yet again in 1921). Also Durand Line didn’t expire with Indian partition because International Laws on succession of States coincide with Pakistan’s stance.

Another sticking point, the Afghans present is pertaining to Pakistan forcibly annexed the Pashtun-majority areas on its side of the Durand Line. Thus Pakistan is an ‘Occupying Force’ for Pakistani Pashtun.
Pakistan did NOT annex Pashtun areas forcibly. Instead, Pashtun of FATA, NWFP and Balochistan made a conscious choice (out of their free will) to join Pakistan in an open referendum.

The Afghans insist that Pashtun areas of Pakistan were historically part of Afghanistan; so they should be returned to Afghanistan. Pashtun areas of Pakistan were NOT historically part of Afghanistan. In fact there was no country by the name of Afghanistan until 1700s. Even the present-day Afghanistan was divided among various Empires historically. Up to 1700s, North Afghanistan (including Balkh) was part of Bukhara Khanate, West & South Afghanistan (including Qandahar and Herat) was part of Iranian Safavid Empire and East Afghanistan (including Kabul) was part of Mughal Empire of India. And Mughals themselves were NOT Afghans; they were Central Asians.
The first signs of today’s Afghanistan appeared in early 1700s when Mirwais Hotak freed Qandahar from Iranian rule. Herat became part of Afghanistan in 1740s. Balkh was captured in 1750s but later lost to Uzbeks again. Ahmad Shah Durrani captured North India (Peshawar to Delhi) in 1750s by defeating Marathas but all was lost within a few years of Ahmad Shah’s death in 1773.
Peshawar became part of Sikh Empire in 1818 and later fell to the British in late 1840s and remained so up to 1947, when NWFP (now KPK) joined Pakistan.

Goaded by their Indian mentors, Afghans take sadistic pleasure in launching barbs and taunts against their one true well wisher: Pakistan. There is only so much insult a friend can bear. Afghans should look inwards and judge what they have done over the decades to hurt Pakistan and stop their tirade.