Afghanistan's stability lies with Pakistan: A rebuttal to Mr. Mir

SUBJECT: Afghanistan’s stability lies with Pakistan By Haroun Mir Dear Editor: Mr Mirs article has serious errors in it. It is a simple regurgitation of failed rhetoric of the Afghan communists who were swept away by the tide of time and people power. Today another tide is threatening Kabul–it is the tide of the angry Pashtuns. The Problems in Kabul are home grown. There is abject poverty, warlordism, rampant heroin production, no central authority, complete collapse of law and order, and no jobs for Afghans. Lack of representation to the Pashtuns, a lack of freedom, and dearth of even the basics of life are the main reasons that the government in Kabul is losing it’s battles to the Taliban. Today’s precarious nature of the Afghan state allows the non-representative mayors of cities (example mayor of Kabul is Mr. Karzai) to disparage Pakistan. Evry day Kabul and NATO cede more territory to the Pashtuns (sometimes labeled as Taliban). After the Soviets were thrown out of Afghanistan, they left the Khalq and Parcham parties in charge. The Afghans again came begging for Pakistani support to dislodge these repressive governments. In 1992, Pakistani repeatedly tried to stabilize Pakistan, however the intransigent warlords, poppy-growers and Tajik led government on Kabul would not negotiate with the other Pashtuns and refused to share power with the Afghans. Mr. Hamid Karzai is a self-professed Taliban, as are many members of his government. Mr. Karzai himself was on the ISI payroll and lived in Quetta fighting the regime in power in Kabul in 1992.Mr. Karzai was proposed as the Afghan representative of the Taliban to the UN. The Americans will one day leave. The present leadership in Kabul should build bridges with her neighbors Mr. Mir’s article has some gross inaccuracies based upon urban myths and generic Pakistanphobia of the garden variety. According to the Indian Independence Act of 1947, the princely states of the Subcontinent had one year to decide to join the dominions of either India or Pakistan. Mr. Mirs attempts are rewriting the history of the Subcontinent is hilarious. Mr. Mirs claim that Balauchistan did not join Pakistan is telling only a half-truth. The Nawab of Kalat acceded to Pakistan in March 1948 after holding a referendum in the portion of Balauchistan that he controlled. Other parts of Balauchistan not under his controlled had already joined Pakistan. In fact Baluchistan was the first province to agree to the creation of Pakistan. Out of 88 Baluch sardars 77 support the current actions in Baluchistan. Only three do not support it. They are financed y India. This can hardly be called a struggle for independence! the debacle of 1971 was a conspiracy to destroy the largest Muslim state in the world and stop it from becoming a regional power. Internal bickering added to this break-up, but it was external aggression that led to the break-up. Here are some historical data points, refuting the revisionism of Mr. Mir: During the period of the British Raj, there were four Princely States in Balochistan: Makran, Kharan, Las Bela and Kalat, the largest and most powerful.1) In 1876 Sir Robert Sandeman concluded a treaty with the Khan of Kalat and brought his territories–including Kharan, Makran, and Las Bela–under British suzerainty. 2) After the Second Afghan War of 1878-80, the Treaty of Gandamak concluded in May 1879, the Afghan Mmir ceded his districts of Pishin, Sibi, Harnai, and Thal Chotiali to the British. 3) In 1883 the British leased the Bolan Pass, southeast of Quetta, from the Khan of Kalat on a permanent basis,.4) In 1887 some areas of Balochistan were declared British territory.4) In 1893, Sir Mortimer Durand negotiated an agreement with Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan to fix thethe Durand Line running from Chitral to Balochistan to as the boundary between the Afghans and the British.5) The Government of India Act, 1935, treats Kalat as an Indian State and provides representation for it in the Federal Legislature6) In 1947, Kalat was ruled by Mir Ahmed Yar Khan.The British had given all Princely States (about 526 of them) the choice of either India, or Pakistan during the immediate pre-partition period They were worried of having too many independent nations. face="Times New Roman">7) The Indian Independence Act, 1947 allowed the independent states to join either India or Pakistan.these were the only two choices. There was no other choice.8) The people of Balauchistan, overwhelmingly voted to join Pakistan in a referendum that was held on June 30, 1947, to ascertain their wishes on this issue.9) The Khan of Kalat acceded to Pakistan on March 27, 1948. Like Kalat, Hydrabad and Kashmir, hundreds of other states also had the choice of either joining India or Pakistan. Pakistan has hosted more than 4 million refugees from Afghanistan. More than 3 million Afghans still refuse to go back to Afghanistan. the Afghan refugees and most Afghans think of Pakistan as their second home. The Pashtuns of Pakistan cannot even think being part of Afghanistan. In fact, many want the Eastern Pashtun part of Afghanistn to break away from Afghanistan and join Pakistan. Pakistan would gladly rescind the Duran Line. Pakistan as a successor state of British India. If the Durand Line did not exist, all of Afghanistan would be part of Pakistan! Alternatively all of Pakistan would be part of Afghanistan. Either way Islamabad would rule all of Afghanistan, like it always has.Obviously Kabul has been unable to create a state. NATO will one day leave. The solution to Afghanistan is to break it up into Pashtun, Tajik and Shia parts and parse them out to Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan.