Indian Prime Minister with Afghan President

Hostilities between Afghanistan and Pakistan started as soon as Pakistan came into being on 14 August 1947. Afghanistan was the only country in the world that voted against Pakistan’s request for admission into the United Nations and started its unholy campaign for the independence of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other Pakhtun areas and its accession to Afghanistan to form the so-called Greater Pakhtunistan.

Afghanistan still does not accept Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the legitimate part of Pakistan by referring to the Durand Line agreement between British envoy Mortimer Durand and Amir Abdul Rehman of Afghanistan but that agreement is not a legal binding on the new state of Pakistan. The world accepts the Durand line as an international boundary but Afghanistan does not accept this and continued spitting venom against Pakistan.

Afghanistan attacked Pakistan in 1949 with full force but Pakistan Army with the full support of local Pashtuns pushed them back and suffered losses at the hands of brave Pak Army. In 1949 another major diplomatic standoff occurred when Pakistan Airforce bombarded Afghanistan sponsored militants in border areas of Pakistan. In the 1960s again Afghanistan attacked Pakistan in hope of getting support from the local Pashtun population but that operation too proved to be a futile process for Afghans as they suffered heavy losses.

In 1978 when Russian-backed Communists toppled Daud’s government and implemented strict communist agenda in Afghanistan, the communists themselves divided into two factions namely Khalqi and Parchami factions. The radical Khalq faction under the leadership of Nur Muhammad Tarakai implemented strict communist laws even banning Muslims from worshiping and praying daily prayers, they introduced liberal laws for gender equality and also same was the situation with Najibullah government.

These laws were new and unfamiliar to the deep-rooted conservative Afghan society, drew criticism from majority Afghans. This resulted in the formation of Mujahideen who started a bloody guerrilla war against the Communist government. Most of the Mujahideen commanders requested Pakistan for help, Bhutto accepted their request and started training Afghan Mujahideen. General Zia carried out the Bhutto’s Afghan legacy but this time with American and Gulf aid.

After the collapse of the Communist government, Mujahideen started fighting against each other. Pakistan was deeply saddened and tried to convince Mujahideen to solve problems through talks. In 1996, Taliban a new movement of former Mujahideen captured the capital, Kabul and formed their own government. Pakistan was quick to recognise Taliban as a legitimate government and established diplomatic ties with Taliban government. However after 9/11 terrorist acts in New York and heavy  American pressure left no option for Pakistan but to join the so-called war on terrorism.

Ever since Pakistan tried to bring all the fighting factions to the table for talks to solve the issue once and for all but in vain. Instead, the insurgency increased after 2004 taking lives of many people including NATO and ISAF forces. After fighting for many years America decided to have a dialogue with Taliban and Pakistan was the first to responded to the calls for talks and offered facilitation of talks but India backed NDS (National Directorate of Security) leaked the news of Mullah Umar’s death, causing a halt in talks.

The successor of Mullah Umar, Mullah Akhtar Mansoor agreed to talks but he was also blown up in a drone strike in Pakistan prompting some new attacks from Afghan Taliban. This proved to be an opportunity for Afghanistan to blame Pakistan, soared relations with Pakistan and even attacked Pakistani forces over an issue of construction of a gate on the Pakistani side of the border.

Apart from this, many times we have seen skirmishes between Afghan National Army and Pakistani forces which have certainly not helped common people of both countries. It's now time for Afghanistan to accept Pakistan as a reality and stop playing in the hands of India for greater regional interests.