Pak-Afghan deteriorating relations

By Javed Ali Kalhoro

June 23, 2014

[Published in Weekly Pulse Magazine]



Recent clashes between Afghan and Pakistani security forces at the Durand line are not new for
the people of the both countries as such brutal incidents have been experienced in the past as
well. The Pak-Afghan forces have always been in conflicts, sometimes they share wrong
information and shoot each other or sometimes the both sides do consider each other as
Militant forces rather than security forces. Firing at border is somehow a routine matter for
the both countries but now the tension at the border line is increasing and these growing clashes
can lead this nation to consider Afghanistan as another India at our western side. Ahmed shayeq
an author at Institute of Policy Studies based in Islamabad wrote an article which says, During
the initial decades after Pakistans creation, the Pakhtoonistan issue was the mainframe of
Afghan foreign policy. Indeed, many scholars hold that its fanatic support for the Pakhtoonistan
movement in Pakistan caused Afghanistans economic and political dependence on the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in the 1950s-1980s, resulting in its invasion in 1979.

During my primary education, I have always been taught the tormented relationship between
Pakistan and India but such incidents in the history of Pakistan and Afghanistan have never been
a part of our text books.

I remember one of my teachers at middle school who said to us while delivering his lecture,
India is a country that has never accepted Pakistan as an independent Muslim country;
therefore, as a Muslim, we are bound to smash our enemies including India. Since I was a child
at that time, therefore I started hating India naturally while considering it as the worst enemy for
my country. During my masters; I went through different literatures written by the Indian,
Pakistani, British and American scholars regarding Indo-Pak history. These times I had a bad
feeling about the teacher who taught me to hate India because I had a sense of realization that all
of my secondary and primary education was biased and far from facts.

Today, on my way back to home from morning walk, I heard a man was saying to a not more
than five years old child: Afghanistan is the worst enemy of Pakistan and the later has never
accepted the former as an independent country, this is why they keep on attacking us in order to
destroy us completely. I wondered how a parent could say such things to his child who is so
pure, clean and unaware about this world. Is this how, he wants his son to grow in a same
manner that I am grown up with?

Research in Pakistan is not a new phenomenon, but going through any proper research work is
very rare example in my country. Imagine! Not even a single penny has been allocated in either
federal or provincial budgets for research or development.

No doubt the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has never been up to the
expectations. There was a time when Pakistan recognized Kabul under Taliban control and
Afghanistan itself respected the country more than any other country in the region. Osama bin
Laden visited Pakistan in late 80s and 90s and this gentleman was given full protocol by our
friends. Pakistan always wanted to have brotherly relations with Afghanistan in the past but
unfortunately, the world policy managers did not want so.
In a video conversation held by the Atlantic Council and the Center for American Progress in
Washington, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the former foreign minister and leading Presidential
candidate for Afghanistan said that: Talibanization has been rejected by the population as a
whole, including different ethnic groups of the country, that ideology is rejected . This sentence
is self-explanatory.

Pakistan is currently facing the extreme level of violence such as sectarianism, extremism and
ethnic crisis. The gradually deteriorating law and order situation has been hurting the nation for
last more than one decade. Formation of new militant groups, bombings and firing in Pakistan
has now become a routine. But the most important thing that is yet to be realized is the security
and sovereignty of the country. We must come out of whos our enemy and whos our friend. In
brief, the national interest must be above all.

One can recall former president Asif Ali Zardaris invitation to Afghan President Hamid Karzai
to participate in his oath taking ceremony in the year 2008. This invitation was appreciated even
by the international community in order to give a strong and positive message to the world that
the both, Pakistan Afghanistan are friends having historical relations. On the other side, former
Army chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani visited Moscow in October 2012 to revive the bilateral
relationship to promote peace in the region. But the process of making good friendly relations
with our past aggrieved countries seems halted now. Defense minister Khuwaja Asif in a
statement said that The emergence of the Russian Federation and China at global scene can
boost the regional alliances to safeguard of economic and security interests of respective
countries This statement shows that even todays political democratic government has the
realization of putting the past wounds a side and proceed towards the better future with new
intentions. On the other hand, it is a bitter reality that whenever any democratic government tried
to revive its contacts with India and Russia, our friends became quite unhappy; this is how we
are being considered as a failed state.

A recent report issued by a renowned Research and Development Institute states that, Pakistani
exports to Afghanistan were $2.3 billion which is around 207 billion in PKR. On other hand, the
Afghan side is also seeking assistance in oil and gas exploration, power generation, construction
and mining, to develop untapped mineral deposits worth some US $1 trillion or 100 trillion in
PKR. This clearly shows the benefits and advantages of the bilateral investments that no doubt,
strengthen the economy of any country around the globe. Any cultural, religious or political
differences do not matter when it comes to the economic development of a country. The solution
of our energy crisis is the key to the economic development of the country. It is quite ironical
that our policy makers declare that stable Afghanistan is in our national interest while they are
aware of the fact that Afghanistan has already been pre-occupied with the seeds of corruption
and terrorism to an extent that after the post withdrawal of US forces, its future seems to be quite
gloomy and blurred.
ENDS