Afghanistan–Pakistan relations

Pakistan-Afghanistan relations

Pakistan	Afghanistan

Afghanistan–Pakistan relations began in August 1947 after British India was partitioned into the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan are usually described as inseparable states due to their historical, religious, cultural, linguistic, and ethnic ties, as well as their multiple trade and economic ties.^[1] Both neighbouring states are Islamic republics and part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.

However, the relationship between the two countries has been affected by issues related to the Durand Line, the 1980s Soviet war, the rise of the Taliban, the 2001-present war, and the growing influence of India in Afghanistan.

Country comparison

	Pakistan	Afghanistan
Population	ca. 180 million	ca. 29 million
Area	796,095 km² (307,374 sq mi)	647,500 km² (251,772 sq mi)
Population Density	214.3/km² (555/sq mi)	43.5/km² (111.8/sq mi)
Capital	Islamabad	Kabul
Largest City	Karachi	Kabul
Government	Islamic republic and Federal Parliamentary republic	Islamic republic
Independence	August 14, 1947	April 1709, October 1747, and August 19, 1919
Official languages	Urdu, English	Dari, Pashto
Main religions	Islam 95%, other (includes Christianity and Hinduism) 5%	Islam 99%, other 1%
Ethnic groups	Punjabi 44.68%, Pashtun 15.42%, Sindhi 14.1%, Seraiki 8.38%, Muhajirs 7.57%, Baloch 3.57%, other 6.28%	Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 4%, Baloch 2%, other 4%.
GDP (nominal)	$210.8 billion ($1265 per capita)	$15.608 billion ($517 per capita)
GDP (PPP)	$488 billion	$30 billion
Military expenditures	3% of GDP (2007 est.) or $7.0 billion	1.9% of GDP (2009 est.) or $0.25 billion ($250 million)[dubious – discuss]

Historical context

Arachosia and the Pactyans during the 1st millennium BC

Southern and eastern Afghanistan is predominately a Pashto-speaking region, like the adjacent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and northern Balochistan regions in Pakistan. This entire area is inhabited by the indigenous Pashtuns who belong to different Pashtun tribes.^[2] The Pashtuns were known historically as ethnic Afghans and lived in this region for thousands of years, since at least the 1st millennium BC.^[3][4]

The Durand Line border was established after the 1893 Durand Line Agreement between Mortimer Durand of colonial British India and Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan for fixing the limit of their respective spheres of influence. The single-page agreement, which contains seven short articles, was signed by Durand and Khan, agreeing not to exercise political interference beyond the frontier line between Afghanistan and what was then colonial British India.^[5] Pakistan inherited this agreement after its partition from India in 1947 but there has never been a formal agreement or ratification between Islamabad and Kabul.

The agreement did not put a restriction on the free movement of the native Pashtun people who are used to travelling freely between different places since ancient times, especially during season changes. Due to this and other reasons, the Afghan government has decided not to formally accept the poorly-marked Durand Line as the international border between the two states, claiming that the Durand Line Agreement has been void in the past.^[6] This complicated issue is very sensitive in both countries. The Afghan government worries that if it ever ratifies the agreement, it will permanently divide the 50 million Pashtuns and thus create a backlash in Afghanistan. Pakistan feels that the border issue had been resolved before its birth in 1947, and it too fears a revolt from the warring tribes which could eventully bring the state down as it was done to the Persian Empire by the Hotaki dynasty in 1722 or when Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtuns later to topple the Mughal Empire of India. This unmanagable border has always served as the main trade route between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent, especially for supplies into Afghanistan.

Contemporary issues

During the 1980s, the Durand Line border was heavily used by Afghan refugees fleeing the Communist take-over of their country. With funds from the international community through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Pakistan hosted over 3 million Afghans at various refugee camps, mainly around Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.^[7] In 1999, the United States provided $70 million in humanitarian assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, mainly through multilateral organizations and Non-governmental organization (NGOs). Many developed countries around the world continue to provide food and other humanitarian assistance to the refugees.^[8]

Afghan President Hamid Karzai with U.S. President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari during a US-Afghan-Pakistan Trilateral meeting at the White House in Washington, DC.

Pakistan also became the major training ground for the 250,000 Mujahideen fighters who began crossing into Afghanistan on daily bases to wage war against the Soviet-backed Afghan government and the invading Soviet forces. The Mujahideen included not only locals but also Arabs and others from over 40 different Islamic nations. Many of these fighters married local women and decided to stay in Pakistan after the Soviet withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, among them were al Qaeda.

In the 1990s, the Taliban government emerged in Afghanistan and established friendly relations with neighboring Pakistan. However, after the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001 by the United States and allies, Afghan-Pakistan relations became strained. The present Karzai administration believes that some remnants of the former Mujahideen, Taliban, al Qaeda, and others are being supported by anti-Afghanistan factions within Pakistan. Leaders in Pakistan have said that the government cannot control all elements of its ISI intelligence agency, which the United States and others accuse of contributing to the instability in Afghanistan. Many in Pakistan, including former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, often argue "that ethnic Pashtuns, a group that has been the Taliban's base of support in the past, are under-represented in the Afghan government, and that ethnic Tajiks from the country's north — including Panjsheris from the Panjshir Valley — hold too many positions."^[9] In 2006, Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that "Iran and Pakistan and others are not fooling anyone" when it comes to interfering in his country.

"If they don’t stop, the consequences will be … that the region will suffer with us equally. In the past we have suffered alone; this time everybody will suffer with us.… Any effort to divide Afghanistan ethnically or weaken it will create the same thing in the neighboring countries. All the countries in the neighborhood have the same ethnic groups that we have, so they should know that it is a different ball game this time."^[6]

—Hamid Karzai, February 17, 2006

The Durand Line border has been used in the last decade as the main supply route for NATO-led forces in Afghanistan as well as by Taliban and other militant groups who stage attacks inside Afghanistan. In 2008, Karzai became frustrated with this and suggested that his nation may order the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) to cross the Durand Line in order to defeat militants hiding in western Pakistan.^[10] Leaders in Pakistan became angry and warned against this suggestion by stating that it would not "tolerate any violations of its borders." Pakistani Prime Minister, Yusuf Raza Gilani, explained that the Durand Line border was too long to police.^[11] The American government decided to rely on drone attacks instead and this began to negatively affect the US-Pakistan relations.

Relations have became more strained after the Afghan government began openly accusing Pakistan of using its ISI spy network in aiding the Taliban and other militants. Pakistan usually denies these allegations but has said in the past that it does not have full control of the actions of the ISI. There have been a number of reports about the Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes, which usually occur when army soldiers are in hot pursuit chasing insurgents who cross the border back and forth. This leads to tensions between the two states, especially after hearing reports of civilian casualties.^[12]

U.S. Armed Forces checking the border checkpoint at Torkham, between Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan.

After the May 2011 death of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, many prominent Afghan figures began being assassinated, including Mohammed Daud Daud, Ahmad Wali Karzai, Jan Mohammad Khan, Ghulam Haider Hamidi, Burhanuddin Rabbani and others.^[13] Also in the same year, the Afghanistan–Pakistan skirmishes intensified and many large scale attacks by the Pakistani-based Haqqani network took place across Afghanistan. This led to the United States warning Pakistan of a possible military action against the Haqqanis in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.^[14] The U.S. blamed Pakistan's government, mainly Pakistani Army and its ISI spy network as the masterminds behind all of this.^[15]

"In choosing to use violent extremism as an instrument of policy, the government of Pakistan, and most especially the Pakistani army and ISI, jeopardizes not only the prospect of our strategic partnership but Pakistan's opportunity to be a respected nation with legitimate regional influence. They may believe that by using these proxies, they are hedging their bets or redressing what they feel is an imbalance in regional power. But in reality, they have already lost that bet."^[16]

—Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, told Radio Pakistan that "The attack that took place in Kabul a few days ago, that was the work of the Haqqani network. There is evidence linking the Haqqani Network to the Pakistan government. This is something that must stop."^[17] Other top U.S. officials such as Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta made similar statements.^[18][15] Despite all of this, Afghan President Hamid Karzai labelled Pakistan as Afghanistan's "twin brother".^[19] Such words in diplomatic talks mean that Afghanistan cannot turn enemy against the state of Pakistan to please others.

The Pashtun dominated government of Afghanistan is concentrating more on its trillion dollars minerals, particularly the oil and gas in the northern regions. It is less interested in Pakistan other than friendly and reliable trade. In the meantime, the Pashtun nationalists of Pakistan are focusing on developing closer ties with the Afghan cities of Jalalabad and Kandahar since they sit on very important trade routes.

Afghan-Pak Transit Trade Agreement

In July 2010, a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was reached between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the Afghan-Pak Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), which was observed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The two states also signed a MoU for the construction of rail tracks in Afghanistan to connect with Pakistan Railways (PR)^[20], which has been in the making since at least 2005.^[21]

In October 2010, the long-awaited Afghan-Pak Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) between the two states was finally inked. The landmark agreement was signed by Pakistani Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, Afghan Ministry of Commerce. The ceremony was attended by Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a number of foreign ambassadors, Afghan parliamentarians and senior officials.^[1] It would allow each nation's shipping trucks into the others; Afghan trucks will be allowed to drive through Pakistan to the Wagah border with India, including to the port cities of Karachi and Gwadar.^[22]

In November 2010, the two states formed a joint chamber of commerce to expande trade relations and solve the problems traders face.^[23][24] The APTTA agreement has taken effect after several Afghan trucks delivered fruits from Afghanistan to the Wagah border with India in June 2011. With the completion of the APTTA, the United States and other NATO member states are planning to revive the ancient Silk Road. This is to help the local economies of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by connecting South Asia with Central Asia and the Middle East.^[25]

The agreement was intended to improve trade between the two contries but Pakistan often delays Afghan-bound containers,^[26] especially after the 2011 NATO attack in Pakistan.

See also

• Foreign relations of Afghanistan
• Foreign relations of Pakistan
• Afghanistan Pakistan People's Friendship Association
• AfPak

References

External links

• Brigadier Usman Khalid's article explaining the inevitable Union of Afghanistan and Pakistan
• "The Durand Line: History and Problems of the Afghan-Pakistan Border" Bijan Omrani, published in Asian Affairs, vol. 40, Issue 2, 2009.
• What does Pakistan want in Afghanistan?

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