International interventions and Afghanistan-Pakistan

relations
Foreign intervention in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region is nothing new.
During the 19th Century, present-day Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan were proxy
war zones for the competing British and Tsarist colonial empires, and later between the
Soviet and US blocks during the Cold War. This interference inflamed the PakistaniAfghan territorial dispute. While Afghanistan became increasingly reliant on the USSR
for military aid, Pakistan became a key US ally. Iranian mediation ended the conflict and
a settled the border issue in 1963, although this dramatic improvement in AfghanPakistani relations was to last only a decade [Siddiqui 2008: 10-18]. Pakistan and
Afghanistan have consistently offered refuge, funding and support to dissidents, with
Afghan support for Pashtun and Baluch separatism in Pakistan, and Pakistani support for
the Taliban opposition to the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. Zias military regime
pushed a policy of state-driven Islamisation and supported Jihadist groups involved in the
US-supported war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. During Zias rule, Pakistani
involvement in Afghanistan generated an opium and small arms-based war economy
inside Pakistan, especially in the Tribal Areas, profiting members of the army, local
warlords and mujahideen alike.
In 1981 the Reagan Administration issued $3.2 billion for Pakistan. The aid
package was increased to $4.02 billion in 1987, which was a mix of military aid worth
$1.7 billion. Pakistans current involvement alongside the US and NATO in the
Afghanistan war bears a deep and complex relationship with Pakistans former support
for the Afghan mujahideen. Pro-Taliban militant have been active in Indian-held Kashmir
and inside Pakistan, turning their violence against the government and segments of the
population. Since 2001, the war in Afghanistan has been spilling over into Pakistan in
complex ways and with disastrous consequences. Political and economic factors interact
with tribal, ethnic, religious and political identity groups, bringing violent conflict into
the heart of the country.