Forum Pakistan

Afghanistan Pakistan Relations
Afghanistan and Pakistan share a long border called the *Durand Line. Although there are religious and ethnic affinities between the people of these two countries, relations between the two neighbours were less than cordial throughout the Cold War. Acute differences developed between the two states, even to the point of diplomatic relations being terminated (in 1961).

The e were restored in 1963 by virtue of the Shah of Iran's successful mediation. Being a landlocked country, Afghanistan had no access to the sea. Consequently most of its foreign trade is routed through Pakistan's port of Karachi. This factor has significant importance in the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

From 1976 to 1978 Pak-Afghan high-level contacts tended to mend relations. However, in the late 1970s fellowship began to deteriorate rapidly. Pakistan's territory became the principal base for the Afghan opposition' forces against the Soviet supported Kabul government.

The war in Afghanistan gave rise to a number of destructive developments for Pakistan, such as the spread of drugs, terrorism, and violence, social difficulties resulting from the presence of three million Afghan refugees. The desire to stabilize the position of Pakistan's foreign and domestic relations led Islamabad, in the early 1980s, to seek a negotiated settlement of the Afghan War. Pakistan supported the proposal of the UN Secretary General, in May 1981, i.e. to settle the problem by political means. This led to the *Geneva Agreement in 1988, facilitating the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in early 1989. Subsequently a Soviet-American agreement was reached on the simultaneous cessation of weapons deliveries to all warring Afghan forces, as of 1 January 1992.

Pakistan's relations with Afghanistan had an inauspicious beginning. Afghanistan was the only country to oppose Pakistan's membership of the UN in September 1947. It belatedly refused to recognize the Durand Line (1893) as the common frontier between the two countries, and claimed territories lying in Pakistan to be its own. The Afghan government had insisted in 1947 that the people of the NWFP be given a chance to vote in the referendum on union with Pakistan or Afghanistan or, alternatively, on the founding of an independent state of Pakhtunistan. This demand 'ran contrary to the terms of reference of the Partition Plan. The prime minister designate of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had ruled out the third option, that is, independence in the case of *Bengal, therefore it could not be introduced anywhere else in the country.

It was after the Soviet withdrawal from Afghani tan that the Taliban, an Islamist party that is usually labelled 'fundamentalist', acquired strength. The Taliban's success in Herat (in Afghanistans Herat province) resulted in the ransacking of the Pakistan Embassy by the forces of Ahmad Shah Masood. On 27 September 1996 the Taliban entered Kabul and executed Dr Najibullah, who had been the president during the Soviet dominated era. On 25 May 1997, Pakistan, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, recognized the Taliban regime led by Mullah Muhammad Umar.

Pakistan's recognition of the Taliban regime caused a setback to the relations held with the Central Asian States as well as with the United States of America, who were pressurizing Pakistan to use its influence with the Taliban to track down Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi citrzen suspected of terrorism. Following the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Osama Bin Laden, harboured by the Taliban, became the prime suspect. After promising the US that it would help in the fight against terrorism, PakistanTaliban relations became practically nil, and were later completely cut off.

The US attacked Afghanistan on 7 October 2001 with full intelligence and logistical help from Pakistan. The interim regime set up under Hamid Karzai took Kandahar on 7 December 2001, paving his way to becoming president on 13 June 2002.

Pakistan and Afghanistan were further alienated because of terrorism within Pakistan's territory, for which Afghans were held responsible. As a result of this the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul was closed down. It was reopened on 14 January 2002 after Afghan authorities gave assurance of safety. On 8 February of the same year, Presidents Karzai and *Musharraf met in Islamabad and talked about improvement of bilateral ties. On 2 April President Musharraf visited Kabul. On 2 May 2002, Air Services between Afghanistan and Pakistan resumed after twenty-three years. Pakistan turned down Afghanistan's request to allow Indian goods through its territory on 13 May 2002. On 22 December 2002, Pakistan signed a pact with Afghanistan not to interfere in its internal affairs. On 22 April 2003 Pakistani and Afghan presidents met again in Islamabad to normalize relations. On 8 July 2003, the Pakistan Mission to Afghanistan again became the victim of a Kabul mob attack and closed down. 25 October 2003 saw Pakistan set up a large number of check posts on the Pak-Afghan border.

Relations were once again damaged when President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistan on 23 November 2004 of harbouring and promoting Taliban elements for attacks in his country. The Pakistan Foreign Office is ued a rebuttal the same day saying that Afghanistan should improve internal security by curbing warlords in its territory, control factional fighting and the production and trafficking of drugs. Prime Minister Mian Zafarullah Jamali vi ited Kabul on 12 January 2003 and vowed to fight terrorists together with the Afghans and both monitoring their respective borders more closely,