INTRODUCTION

Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbors with interlinked destiny that not only share geographic contiguity, but also have lot of other commonalities like; faith, history & heritage, ethnic groupings, socio-cultural values, mutual economic interests and geo-strategic dependence etc. Pakistan’s seaports for land locked Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s location at the crossroads of South and Central Asia further adds to their importance for each other. It was due to these reasons that Pakistan supported Afghans and hosted more than 3.5 millions refugees in their war of independence against Soviet occupation. That refugee influx affected Pakistan’s internal, social and economic development, creating a drug menace, smuggling, social violence and a Kalashnikov culture. Since, Pakistan’s fundamental aim has been to stabilize its western borders, it became acute because of India’s hostile posture, compelling Pakistan to seek defensive measures. Owing to this reason, Pakistan, since its independence, has been aspiring for friendly, cordial and mutually beneficial relations with Afghanistan. Despite Pakistan’s desire of friendly relations, and commonalities of interests and other drivers based on socio-economic interdependence, the bilateral relations have remained mostly strained. From the beginning, Afghanistan has followed a policy of hostility towards Pakistan, and has been patronizing a separatist Pakhtoonistan Movement. Afghanistan was the only country to oppose Pakistan’s admission to the United Nations, conditioning its recognition upon the provision that the right of self-determination be given to the people of Pakistan’s NWFP.[1] Actually, the demand for Pakhtoonistan was made in December 1947, when the Indian Army was moving towards Pakistan’s border and was poised for a quick advance into Kashmir.[2] Since then, raids from Afghanistan into Pakistani territories have taken place from time to time. India’s threat remains central and primary to Pakistani security calculation with Afghanistan, as well. Kabul began hosting separatist Pakistani Pakhtuns and Baloch and in retaliation Islamabad did the same to dissident Afghans.

A cursory glance over the history of their relations present a dismal picture of Afghanistan’s non-co-operative attitude and irredentist claims – prompted by internal and external vested interests particularly in the wake of the Cold War and post 9/11 bursts of blame games of interfering in each others internal affairs. Re-emergence, regrouping and regaining strength of Taliban and Al Qaeda once thought defeated in Afghanistan, is threatening both the reconstruction process and the Coalition forces in Afghanistan. The renewal of the Taliban insurgency in the provinces bordering the Pak-Afghan border has once again generated tensions between Kabul and Islamabad. The two countries are accusing each other of interfering in their respective domestic affairs. Afghanistan blames Pakistan for fueling the insurgency in Afghanistan in order to destabilize the government of Hamid Karzai and install a more compliant government in Kabul. President Karzai himself criticized Pakistan on several occasions, claiming Pakistan was training militants and sending them over the border.[3] In turn, Islamabad blames Kabul for its alleged support to the Baloch guerrillas and the situation in Waziristan and Bajore agencies. Such distrust and criticism has often led to angry rebuttals and poisoned relations between the two neighboring countries. Though much headway has been made in terms of enhanced trade ties linking Kabul with Islamabad, the political problems refuse to go away and prevent the two countries from achieving the full potential of their economic cooperation. However, all this becomes irrelevant in forging closer ties between the two countries as soon as authorities in Kabul start blaming Islamabad for the violence in parts of Afghanistan and the Pakistanis react by pointing out how ungrateful the Afghans were after having enjoyed Pakistani hospitality for years.

Kabul did send signals to Islamabad that it too had nuisance capabilities in Pakistani territory and could use the Pashtun question for its own benefit. On February 17, 2006, President Karzai himself led a forty-member delegation to the funeral of the Pashtun nationalist leader Abdul Wali Khan.[4] During a press conference on the same day, Karzai warned that Iran and Pakistan and others are not fooling anyone. He further declared:

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.[5]

The suspicions and mistrust has reached to its apex when Afghanistan’s President Hamed Karazai openly blamed Pakistan by putting all responsibility of ongoing law and order situation in Afghanistan and resolved to adopt hot pursuit policy of crossing Pakistan’s border to destroy militant’s bases. Americans ‘do more syndrome’ and NATO / ISAF forces’ consistent allegations that Taliban’s insurgency is being fed and controlled from the sanctuaries inside the Pakistan’s tribal areas. Indian factor is also playing its role in aggravating the bitterness of bilateral relations and spoiling the environment of trust with a view to pursue its own nefarious designs. Building up of such an anti-Pakistan scenario in Afghanistan’s soil is alarming. It contains a very loud and clear message for Pakistan’s security and Pak-Afghan relations. Pakistan can’t afford another India on its western border. Nor it can allow a War against Terror (being fought in Afghanistan) to spread and spill over to Pakistan. In such deteriorating environment, therefore, Pakistan had to remain prepared for new situations on the Afghan side and be able to adapt accordingly. And the one long term solution rests on the defusing of ongoing cold war, establishing mutual trust and relations based on mutual interests and brotherly sincerity. There has to be a realization that any adversity faced by one could affect the other. It is thus, in the interest of both countries to have friendly and cordially relations marked with trust, and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of other so as to promote peace, political stability, economic prosperity and socio-ethnic unity and cohesiveness in the region. If Afghanistan is passing through a phase of uncertainty because of decades of violence and civil war, Pakistan is also facing a phase of instability because of extremism, militancy, political wrangling, socio-ethnic polarization, and range of other issues from bad governance, water and electricity crises to sectarian and ethnic discords. Therefore, normalization of Pak- Afghan relations is the only recipe to bring peace and stability in the two countries. Pakistan should be content with having an independent, integrated and friendly western neighbor. It could further be argued that, despite the present cold relationship between the two countries, other compulsions, especially those caused by economic and security issues are likely to draw them into a long-term, friendly relationship.

Background of the Research Study

Afghanistan and Pakistan are neighbours with commonality of faith, socio-cultural values, ethnic affinity, socio-political history, geographical contiguity, and geo-economics dependency. In the context of given security environment, Pakistan looked towards Afghanistan as a potential friend in the region. Realizing that landlocked Afghanistan was economically dependent on Pakistan, and given that both countries are Muslim with common historical legacy, Pakistan assumed that Afghanistan will be a natural friend, give up its unrealistic territorial claims and maintain friendly, cordial and mutually beneficial relations. However, during the last five decades, the relations between both the countries never ran a smooth course.

Ongoing war in Afghanistan and its spill over effects in Pakistan especially in Pakistan’s Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) has strengthened the critics claim that peace in FATA is linked with peace in Afghanistan and vice versa. The loudly talked of economic opportunities of huge oil reserves and bright prospects of trade linkage between Central Asian States with Pakistan and rest of the world are also seems to be hostage to Pakistan-Afghanistan relations for the last so many years. Both the countries are counted amongst the poverty-ridden areas with under developed masses and infrastructure. Socio-economic progress depends on social order and peace, political stability and productive inter state relations. Pakistan-and Afghanistan, despite having a long list of commonality of interests, has failed to pursue, develop and maintain mutually rewarding relations with each other thereby harming each others socio- political fiber and neglecting economic opportunities.

Foregoing in view there was a need to carryout research that help in developing guidelines for the attainment of Pakistan’s Afghanistan policy objectives: peace and a friendly government in Afghanistan, a conducive environment for the repatriation of refugees, getting Afghanistan to accept the legal status of the Durand Line and access to Central Asia. The research finding are also likely to help some extent in formulation of a post operation process toward reforms in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, leading to their integration into Pakistani national politics and administration.

Statement of Research Problem

To carry out an in-depth analysis of the bilateral relations with special emphasis on post-9/11 bilateral environment with a view to identify hurdles/ obstacles that are negatively influencing the bilateral relations. The bilateral irritants once identified would help in making suggestion for the improvement in relations and development of trust based socio- political environment yielding economic benefits and creating socio- political cohesiveness.

Objectives of the Study

The research study was aimed to achieve following objectives:

• To describe history of Pakistan Afghanistan relations from 1947 to 2007
• To carry out an in-depth evaluation of history of Pakistan’s Afghanistan relations with a view to identify main obstacles and hurdles amongst the development of dependable friendly relations.
• To recommend measures that can strengthen commonality of interests help develop trust and improve the worsening state of relations, and to make suggestions for improvement.

Research Methodology

The research is descriptive, and analytical in nature. The research was conducted between March 2009 and January 2010. The methodological focus of the research was on wide ranging review of the related literature. The review of the related literature was based on historic record as well as on the content analysis of the current events in Pakistan Afghanistan relations. The data is mainly derived / extracted from secondary sources following qualitative approach. The research data has been derived from various books, research journals, periodicals, news papers and state papers/ agreements of different time span. The references/ points have also been obtained tthat would mainly based on the secondary data available in the form of books, research studies, official / Think tanks reports, state papers, newspapers summaries/ editorials and research articles published with in Pakistan and abroad. Content Analysis method would be used to synthesize the data for analysis, drawing findings and making recommendations.

The result of this research finds that the on going crisis-laden relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have historical currents and currents of British legacy that stretches back to the British India. Historical antipathy and mistrust runs deep. Road to peace and stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan has to be built upon deeper understanding of their relations. Building on the results, it is vital to engage Afghanistan fully to understand the dilemmas of its security and insecurity. One must also remain cognizant of and closely analyze the regional dimension Afghanistan- Pakistan relations. The border skirmishes, the Communist invasion, the civil war in post cold war Afghanistan, the rise of Taliban, the on going War on Terror have all been conflicts between actors with transnational links.

Outline Organization of the Research Thesis

This M.Phil Dissertation contains five chapters as follow:

• Chapter- 1 introduces the research study, giving out background of the research question and the research methodology that was followed during the conduct of this study.
• Chapter-2 presents a review of the related literature that was reviewed during the process of research.
• Chapter-3 presents a detailed overview of the state of Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations from 1947 till today. The chapter has been developed in historic setting in chronological order, giving out important events/ mile stones that tuned the course of their bilateral relations. For the ease of understanding and clarity of presentation the chapter has been further divided in two sections as per following scheme:

Section-1: From 1947 to the Taliban Era till 9/11, 2001. The section covers five distinct phases of the bilateral relations as follow:

Ø Phase-I describes the ill fated start of Bilateral relations commencing from 1947 with the establishment of Pakistan and terminating with the resignation of Mr. Daud, Prime Minister of Afghanistan in1963).