Pashtunistan Movement Before the Taliban Took Over
The Durand Line was established in November 1896, to delineate the British and Afghan territories after two unsuccessful Anglo-Afghan wars. This Line, which Afghanistan doesn’t recognise, also divided the Pashtun (and Baluch) populations into the Afghan kingdom and British India.
Pre-1947, the Pashtuns didn’t want to join Pakistan. Abdul Ghaffār Khan a.k.a Frontier Gandhi—a Pashtun—founded the “Khudai Khidmatgar” movement for an independent state of ‘Pashtunistan’ astride the Durand Line. Their struggle failed, and the Partition split the Pashtuns between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Since then, despite ethnic, linguistic, and religious commonalities, Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have been largely characterised by mutual mistrust. Afghanistan continued its efforts to integrate the Pashtun areas of Pakistan. After Pakistan allied with the USA during the Cold War, Afghanistan and USSR fuelled the Pashtunistan movement.
In the…