The Afghanistan Crisis and Pakistan's Security Dilemma

Abstract

THE REVOLUTION IN IRAN, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the ongoing Iraq-Iran war have not only invoked fears of an uncertain future in Southwest Asia but have also injected urgency into Pakistani discussions of an old problem: the question of security in the area. The spotlight, however, was quickly focused on Afghanistan by Pakistan's security planners as the Afghan crisis profoundly and directly threatened Pakistan's security. From its inception, Pakistan has never really enjoyed what can be termed friendly or even correct relations with Afghanistan, mainly because of the Afghani irredentist claim to Pakhtoonistan-the adjoining areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan inhabited by the Pakhtoon community. Before 1976 the Pakhtoonistan issue had reached a crescendo more than once, and Pak-Afghan relations had deteriorated to the point where border closure seemed the only option. However, there was a significant rapprochement between Afghanistan and Pakistan in 1976-78, with President Daud visiting Pakistan twice and Pakistani leaders paying return visits. The outcome was that Kabul dropped its insistence on Pakhtoon self-determination, hostile propaganda in both countries ceased, and an active search for an amiable solution of the Pakhtoonistan dispute was well underway when the Marxist coup took place in Afghanistan in April 1978. Not only did the Marxist takeover immediately reverse the trend, but the birth of a resistance movement and the subsequent violent clashes between the leftist Afghan forces and the resistance groups led to a large-scale influx of refugees into Pakistan. The refugee flow increased rapidly with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Because Pakistan is sandwiched between Soviet-supported Afghanistan and the Soviets' friend India and is faced with a difficult