Editing Pashtunistan (section)

==History==
{{Further|History of Afghanistan|History of Pakistan}}
[[File:Afghanistan region during 500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright|The area during 500 B.C. was recorded as [[Arachosia]] and inhabited by a people called the Pactyans.]]
Since the [[2nd millennium BC]], the region now inhabited by the native Pashtun people had been conquered by [[Ancient Iranian peoples]], the [[Medes]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]], [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greeks]], [[Maurya Empire|Mauryas]], [[Kushan Empire|Kushans]], [[Hephthalite]]s, [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]], [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab Muslims]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]], and others. In recent age, people of the [[Western world]] have nominally explored the area.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |title=Country Profile: Afghanistan|work=[[Library of Congress]]|publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]] on Afghanistan|date=August 2008|access-date=2010-09-10}}</ref><ref name="HF">{{Cite web |url=http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternAfghans.htm|title=Kingdoms of South Asia – Afghanistan (Southern Khorasan / Arachosia)|publisher=The History Files|access-date=2010-08-16}}</ref><ref name="JFS">{{Cite web |url=http://encarta.msn.com/text_761569370___42/Afghanistan.html |title=Afghanistan – VII. History |author=John Ford Shroder |access-date=2009-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091031052339/http://encarta.msn.com/text_761569370___42/Afghanistan.html |archive-date=October 31, 2009 }}</ref>

[[Islamic conquest of Afghanistan|Arab Muslims]] arrived in the 7th century and began introducing [[Islam]] to the native Pashtun people. The Pashtunistan area later fell to the [[Turkic people|Turkish]] [[Ghaznavids]] whose main capital was at [[Ghazni]], with [[Lahore]] serving as the second power house. The Ghaznavid Empire was then taken over by the [[Ghorid dynasty|Ghorids]] from today's [[Ghor Province|Ghor]], Afghanistan. The army of [[Genghis Khan]] arrived in the 13th century and began destroying cities in the north while the Pashtun territory was defended by the [[Khalji dynasty]] of [[Delhi]]. In the 14th and 15th century, the [[Timurid dynasty]] was in control of the nearby cities and towns, until [[Babur]] captured [[Kabul]] in 1504.

===Delhi Sultanate and the Durrani Empire===
{{Further|Delhi Sultanate|Durrani Empire}}
[[File:Coronation of Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747 by Breshna.jpg|left|thumb|250px|[[Coronation]] of [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] in 1747 by a 20th-century Afghan artist, [[Abdul Ghafoor Breshna]].]]
During the [[Delhi Sultanate]] era, the region was ruled by mainly [[Afghans|Afghan]] and various, largely Sunni, Hanafi-jurisprudential driven Turkic<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astrojyoti.com/medieval-history-39.htm|title=The Government of The Turko-Afghans In India,And Moral As Well As Material Conditions Of The Country During Their Rule|website=www.astrojyoti.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKlEXIVxwj4C&q=turko+afghan&pg=PA2001|title=Identity and Religion: Foundations of Anti-Islamism in India|first=Amalendu|last=Misra|date=30 August 2004|publisher=SAGE Publications|via=Google Books|isbn=9780761932260}}</ref> dynasties from [[Delhi]], India. An early Pashtun nationalist was the "Warrior-poet" [[Khushal Khan Khattak]], who was imprisoned by the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Aurangzeb]] for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals. However, despite sharing a common language and believing in a common ancestry, the Pashtuns first achieved unity in the 18th century. The eastern parts of ''Pashtunistan'' were ruled by the [[Mughal Empire]], while the western parts were ruled by the Persian [[Safavids]] as their easternmost provinces. During the early 18th century, Pashtun tribes led by [[Mirwais Hotak]] successfully revolted against the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]] in the city of Kandahar. In a chain of events, he declared [[Kandahar]] and other parts of what is now southern Afghanistan independent. By 1738 the Mughal Empire had been crushingly defeated and their [[sack of Delhi|capital sacked and looted]] by forces of a new Iranian ruler; the military genius and commander [[Nader Shah]]. Besides Persian, Turkmen, and Caucasian forces, Nader was also accompanied by the young [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]], and 4,000 well trained Abdali Pashtun troops from what is now Afghanistan.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jzafAAAACAAJ | title=Afghanistan: A History of Conflict | isbn=9780233050539 | last1=Griffiths | first1=John Charles | year=2001 | publisher=Andre Deutsch }}</ref>

After the death of Nader Shah in 1747 and the disintegration of his massive empire, Ahmad Shah Durrani created his own large and powerful [[Durrani Empire]], which included all of modern-day Afghanistan, North east Iran, Sindh, Punjab, Baluchistan and Kashmir. The famous couplet by [[Ahmad Shah Durrani]] describes the association the people have with the regional city of Kandahar:
<blockquote>
"Da Dili takht herauma cheh rayad kam zama da khkule Pukhtunkhwa da ghre saroona".
Translation: "I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall the mountain peaks of my beautiful Pukhtunkhwa."
</blockquote>

The last [[Durrani Empire|Afghan Empire]] was established in 1747 and united all the different [[Pashtun tribes]] as well as many other ethnic groups. Parts of the Pashtunistan region around [[Peshawar]] was invaded by [[Ranjit Singh]] and his [[Sikh Empire|Sikh]] army in the early part of the 19th century, but a few years later they were defeated by the [[British Raj]], the new powerful empire which reached the Pashtunistan region from the east.

===European influence===
{{Further|European influence in Afghanistan|British Raj}}
[[File:King Amanullah Khan.jpg|thumb|upright|left|King [[Amanullah Khan]], son of [[Habibullah Khan]] and grandson of [[Abdur Rahman Khan]].]]
Following the decline of the [[Durrani dynasty]] and the establishment of the new [[Barakzai dynasty]] in Afghanistan, the Pashtun domains began to shrink as they lost control over other parts of South Asia to the British, such as the [[Punjab region]] and the [[Balochistan region]]. The [[Anglo-Afghan War]]s were fought as part of the overall imperialistic [[Great Game]] that was waged between the [[Russian Empire]] and the British. Poor and landlocked, newly born Afghanistan was able to defend its territory and keep both sides at bay by using them against each other. In 1893, as part of a way for fixing the limit of their respective spheres of influence, the [[Durand Line Agreement]] was signed between Afghan "Iron" [[Amir Abdur Rahman]] and British Viceroy [[Mortimer Durand]]. In 1905, the North-West Frontier Province (today's [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]) was created and roughly corresponded to Pashtun majority regions within the British domain. The [[FATA]] area was created to further placate the Pashtun tribesmen who never fully accepted British rule and were prone to rebellions, while the city of Peshawar was directly administered as part of a British protectorate state with full integration into the federal rule of law with the establishment of civic amenities and the construction of railway, road infrastructure as well as educational institutes to bring the region at par with the developed world.
[[File:Gandhi and Abdul Gaffa Khan.jpg|thumb|250px|[[Bacha Khan]] (left) with [[Mahatma Gandhi]] and [[Kasturba Gandhi]]]]
During [[World War I]], the Afghan government was contacted by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Turkey]] and [[Imperial Germany|Germany]], through the [[Niedermayer–Hentig Mission]], to join the Central Allies on behalf of the [[Caliph]] in a [[Jihad]]; some revolutionaries, tribals, and Afghan leaders including a brother of the Amir named [[Nasrullah Khan (Afghanistan)|Nasrullah Khan]] were in favour of the delegation and wanted the Amir to declare Jihad. Kazim Bey carried a [[firman]] from the Khalifa in Persian. It was addressed to "the residents of [[Pathanistan]]." It said that when the British were defeated, "His Majesty the Khalifa, in agreement with allied States, will acquire guarantee for independence of the united state of Pathanistan and will provide every kind of assistance to it. Thereafter, I will not allow any interference in the country of Pathanistan." (Ahmad Chagharzai; 1989; pp.&nbsp;138–139). However the efforts failed and the Afghan Amir [[Habibullah Khan]] maintained Afghanistan's neutrality throughout World War I.<ref>{{Cite web |title=باچا خان مرکز میں کلاسیکل محفل موسیقی' نامور گلوکاروں سمیت نئے چہروں نے آواز کا جادو جگایا |url=http://khyberwatch.com/cute/example2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1147384716&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819102616/http://khyberwatch.com/cute/example2.php?subaction=showfull&id=1147384716&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1& |archive-date=19 August 2011 |access-date=15 March 2023 |website=The Khyberwatch |language=ur}}</ref>

Similarly, during the 1942 [[Cripps Mission]], and [[1946 Cabinet Mission to India]], the Afghan government made repeated attempts to ensure that any debate about the independence of India must include Afghanistan's role in the future of the [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|NWFP]]. The British government wavered between reassuring the Afghan to the rejection of their role and insistence that NWFP was an integral part of British India.<ref name="Roberts">Roberts, J(2003) The origins of conflict in Afghanistan. Greenwood Publishing Group, {{ISBN|0-275-97878-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-275-97878-5}}, pp. 92-94</ref>

During [[World War II]], the government of [[Nazi Germany]] proposed an alliance with neutral Afghanistan in order to destabilize British control over the north-west of its domain in India. In return, the Afghans sought that NWFP and the [[Port of Karachi]] would be ceded to the [[Kingdom of Afghanistan]] with German military aid, so that it could gain valuable access to the [[Arabian Sea]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hauner|first=Milan L.|date=1982|title=Afghanistan between the Great Powers, 1938 - 1945|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=14|issue=4|pages=481–499|doi=10.1017/S002074380005217X|jstor=162977|s2cid=161835556 |issn=0020-7438}}</ref> Such a plan would require annexation of NWFP, Baluchistan and Sindh provinces.

The [[Khudai Khidmatgar]]s (also known as the "Red Shirts") were members of a [[civil rights movement]]. Its leader [[Bacha Khan]] claimed to have been inspired by the Indian [[activism|activist]] [[Mahatma Gandhi]]. While the Red Shirts were willing to work with the [[Indian National Congress]] from a political point of view, the Pashtuns living in the NWFP desired independence from India. However, the Bacha Khan wanted the Pashtuns areas in British India to remain part of [[Akhand Bharat|United India]] instead of gaining independence.

===Bannu Resolution===
{{Main|Bannu Resolution}}
In June 1947, [[Mirzali Khan]] (Faqir of Ipi), [[Bacha Khan]], and other [[Khudai Khidmatgar]]s declared the [[Bannu Resolution]], demanding that the Pashtuns be given a choice to have an independent state of Pashtunistan composing all Pashtun majority territories of British India, instead of being made to join the new state of Pakistan.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nation.com.pk/25-Aug-2019/past-in-perspective|title=Past in Perspective|website=The Nation|date=August 25, 2019|access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref> However, the British Raj refused to comply with the demand of this resolution.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ali Shah |first=Sayyid Vaqar |date=1993 |title=Afghanistan and the Frontier |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c05uAAAAMAAJ |location=[[University of Michigan]] |publisher=Emjay Books International |page=256 |editor1-first=Fazal-ur-Rahim Khan |editor1-last=Marwat}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=H Johnson |first1=Thomas |author-link1=Thomas Howard Johnson |last2=Zellen |first2=Barry |date=2014 |title=Culture, Conflict, and Counterinsurgency |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B9ZZAgAAQBAJ |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |page=154 |isbn= 9780804789219}}</ref>
===1947 NWFP referendum ===
{{Main|1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum}}
The NWFP joined the [[Dominion of Pakistan]] as a result of the [[1947 NWFP referendum]], which had been boycotted by the Khudai Khidmatgar movement, including Bacha Khan and then-chief minister Dr. Khan Sahib, as they were ditched by the leadership of Congress. About (99.02%) of the votes were cast in favor of Pakistan and only 2,874 (0.98%) in favor of India.<ref name="prr.hec.gov.pk">{{cite book |url=http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Chapters/1159S-3.pdf |title=Electoral History of NWFP |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810052331/http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Chapters/1159S-3.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite book |author=Michael Brecher |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRsuDwAAQBAJ&q=referendum+nwfp+1947&pg=PA180 |title=A Century of Crisis and Conflict in the International System: Theory and Evidence: Intellectual Odyssey III |date=2017-07-25 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9783319571560 |access-date=25 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Chapters/1159S-3.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-12-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130810052331/http://prr.hec.gov.pk/Chapters/1159S-3.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Jeffrey J. Roberts|title=The Origins of Conflict in Afghanistan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pj8DIT_bva0C&q=nwfp+referendum&pg=PA108|access-date=18 April 2015|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=9780275978785|pages=108–109|year=2003}}</ref>

===Independence of Pakistan in 1947===
{{Further|Pakistan Movement|Afghanistan–Pakistan relations}}
[[File:Muhammed Ayub Khan.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Ayub Khan (Field Marshal)|Ayub Khan]], [[President of Pakistan]] from 1958 to 1969, belonged to the Pashtun [[Tareen]] tribe of [[Haripur District|Haripur]] and fought against [[Waziristan campaign (1936–1939)|Pashtun rebellions]] for the [[British Raj|British Crown]]|alt=]]
The concept of Pashtunistan has varying meanings across Pakistan and Afghanistan.<ref name="Rubin2015">{{cite book|author=Barnett R. Rubin|title=Afghanistan from the Cold War Through the War on Terror|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXIRDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA367|date=25 March 2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-022927-6|pages=367–}}</ref>
In Afghanistan, Pashtun nationalists look after the interests of the Pashtun ethnic group and have support only from them.<ref name="Khalilzad">[[Zalmay Khalilzad]], ''"The Security of Southwest Asia"'', [[University of Michigan]], 2006, {{ISBN|0-566-00651-0}}</ref> They favor the ideas of ''Lōy Afghānistān'' or "Greater Afghanistan", and maintain an [[irredentism|irredentist]] claim on the entire Pashtun-populated region.<ref name="Khalilzad" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Caron |first=James M |date=2009 |title=Cultural Histories of Pashtun Nationalism, Public Participation, and Social Inequality in Monarchic Afghanistan, 1905-1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8aGpYgEACAAJ}}</ref> The Pashtunistan demand also served the cause of domestic Afghan politics, where several successive governments used the idea to strengthen "Pashtun ethnic support" for the state. This policy intensified ethno-linguistic rivalry between Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns in the country.<ref name="Rubin2015"/> These claims are contested in Pakistan, where Pashtun politics centers on political autonomy rather than irredentist politics.<ref name="Rizwan"/>

Since the late 1940s with the dissolution of British India and [[Partition of India|independence of Pakistan]], some rigid Pashtun [[nationalist]]s proposed merging with Afghanistan or creating Pashtunistan as a future [[sovereign state]] for the local Pashtun inhabitants of the area. At first, Afghanistan became the only government to oppose the entry of Pakistan into the [[United Nations]] in 1947, although it was reversed a few months later. On July 26, 1949, when [[Afghanistan–Pakistan relations]] were rapidly deteriorating, a [[loya jirga]] was held in Afghanistan after a [[military aircraft]] from the [[Pakistan Air Force]] bombed a village on the Afghan side of the Durand Line. As a result of this violation, the Afghan government declared that it recognized "neither the imaginary Durand nor any similar line" and that all previous Durand Line agreements were [[Void (law)|void]].<ref>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0022) The Pashtunistan Issue], [[Craig Baxter]] (1997), Library of Congress Country Studies.</ref> [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan|Bacha Khan]] when took an oath of allegiance to Pakistan in 1948 in legislation assembly and during his speech he was asked by PM [[Liaquat Ali Khan]] about Pashtunistan to which he replied that it's just a name to the [[Pashtun province]] in [[Pakistan]] same like [[Punjab, Pakistan|Punjab]], [[Bengal, Pakistan|Bengal]], [[Sindh]] and [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Baluchishtan]] are the names of [[provinces of Pakistan]] as ethno-linguistic names,<ref name="Bukhari 1991 226">{{Cite book|last=Bukhari|first=Farigh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I43pAAAAMAAJ|title=Taḥrīk-i āzādī aur Bācā K̲h̲ān|publisher=Fiction House|year=1991|pages=226}}</ref> contrary to what he believed and strived for Pashtunistan an independent state. During the 1950s to the late 1960s, Pashtuns were promoted to higher positions within the Pakistani government and military, thereby integrating Pashtuns into the Pakistani state and severely weakening secessionist sentiments to the point that by the mid-1960s, popular support for an independent Pashtunistan had all but disappeared.{{Blockquote|An important development in Pakistan during the Ayub period (1958–1969) was the gradual integration into Pakistani society and the military-bureaucratic establishment. It was a period of Pakistan's political history which saw a large number of ethnic Pashtuns holding high positions in the military and the bureaucracy. Ayub himself was a non-Pashto speaking ethnic Pashtun belonging to the [[Tareen|Tarin sub-tribe]] of the Hazara District in the Frontier. The growing participation of Pashtuns in the Pakistani Government resulted in the erosion of the support for the Pashtunistan movement in the Province by the end of the 1960s.<ref name="Rizwan">Rizwan Hussain. ''Pakistan and the emergence of Islamic militancy in Afghanistan''. 2005. p. 74.</ref>|Rizwan Hussain|2005}}
Afghanistan and Pashtun nationalists did not exploit Pakistan's vulnerability during the nation's [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965]] and [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1971|1971 wars]] with India, and even backed Pakistan against a largely Hindu India. Further, had Pakistan been destabilized by India, nationalists would have had to fight against a much bigger country than Pakistan for their independence.<ref>Paul Wolf. [http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/pakistan/pashtunistan.htm#precolonialroots "Pashtunistan."] ''Pakistan: Partition and Military Succession.'' 2004.</ref>

Sardar [[Daoud Khan]], who was the-then prime minister of Afghanistan supported a nationalistic reunification of the Pashtuns in Pakistan with Afghanistan. He wanted Pashtun-dominated areas like [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]] and Baloch-dominated areas like [[Balochistan, Pakistan|Balochistan]] to become part of Afghanistan. However, his policy of reunification of [[Pashtuns]] antagonized Non-Pashtuns like [[Tajiks]], [[Uzbeks]] and [[Hazaras]] living in Afghanistan. Non-Pashtuns believed that the aim of reunification of Pashtuns areas was to increase the population of Pashtuns in Afghanistan. As a result, Daoud Khan was extremely unpopular with Non-Pashtun Afghans.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theglobepost.com/2018/11/07/afghanistan-daoud-ghani/|title=Daoud's Footprints: how Afghanistan's First President Influences Ghani|date=7 November 2018|access-date=1 March 2019|work=The Globe Post|last=Saeedi|first=Sayed Ziafatullah}}</ref> [[File:Bacha_Khan_and_Daoud_Khan.png|thumb|right|[[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Daoud Khan]] with [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan]], 1961]]
[[Bacha Khan]] stated that "Daoud Khan only exploited the idea of reunification of Pashtun people to meet his own political ends".<ref name="India Today">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/neighbours/story/19800331-everything-in-afghanistan-is-done-in-the-name-of-religion-khan-abdul-ghaffar-khan-806546-2014-01-31|title=Everything in Afghanistan is done in the name of religion: Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan|access-date=13 January 2014|magazine=India Today}}</ref> In 1960 and later in 1961, Daoud Khan made two attempts to capture [[Bajaur District]] in [[Khyber Pakthunkhwa]], Pakistan. However, all of Daoud Khan attempts failed as the Afghan army was routed with heavy casualties. Several Afghan army soldiers were also captured by Pakistani soldiers and they were paraded in front of international media which in turn caused embarrassment for Daoud Khan.<ref name="cjk">{{cite book |last=Tomsen |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86w4DgAAQBAJ |title=The Wars of Afghanistan:Messianic Terrorism, Tribal Conflict, and the Failures of Great Powers |date=2013 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=9781610394123}}</ref> As a consequence of Daoud Khan's actions, Pakistan closed its border with Afghanistan which caused economic crisis in Afghanistan. Because of continued resentment against Daoud's [[autocratic rule]], close ties with the [[Soviet Union]] and economic downturn caused by the blockade imposed by Pakistan, Daoud Khan was forced to resign by King [[Zahir Shah]].<ref name="cjk"/> Under King Zahir Shah rule, relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan improved and Pakistan opened its border with Afghanistan. However, later on in 1973, Daoud Khan seized power from King Zahir Shah in a military [[Coup d'état]] and declared himself the first president of Afghanistan. After seizing the power, the Daoud Khan's government started proxy war against Pakistan. Daoud Khan's government established several training camps for anti-Pakistani militants in [[Kabul]] and Kandahar with the aim of training and arming those militants to carry out their activities against Pakistan.<ref name = IndiaToday>{{cite journal |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/section-66a-it-act-supreme-court-bullies-censorship-rohan-venkataramakrishnan/1/271900.html |title=Send Section 66A bullies home |first=Rohan |last=Venkataramakrishnan |newspaper=[[India Today]] |date=19 May 2013 |access-date=24 October 2016}}</ref>
On the other hand, [[Faqir of Ipi|Mirzali Khan]] and his followers continued their guerilla war against the Pakistani government from their base in [[Gurwek]].<ref>[https://tribune.com.pk/story/77388/the-faqir-of-ipi-of-north-waziristan/ The Faqir of Ipi of North Waziristan]. ''[[The Express Tribune]]''. November 15, 2010.</ref><ref>[https://tribune.com.pk/story/1086737/april-1891-1960-the-legendary-guerilla-faqir-of-ipi-unremembered-on-his-115th-anniversary/ The legendary guerilla Faqir of Ipi unremembered on his 115th anniversary]. ''The Express Tribune''. April 18, 2016.</ref> In 1960, [[Prime Minister of Afghanistan|Afghan Prime Minister]] [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] sent the [[Afghan National Army|Afghan military]] across the poorly-demarcated Durand Line into the Pakistani [[Bajaur Agency]] in order to manipulate events in the region and press the Pashtunistan issue; these plans ultimately came to nothing after the Afghan troops were defeated by Pakistani irregular forces. In support of the quasi-invasion, the [[Government of Afghanistan|Afghan government]] engaged in an intense propaganda war via radio broadcasts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Afghanistan - Daoud as Prime Minister, 1953-63 |url=https://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/26.htm |access-date=2023-02-08 |website=countrystudies.us}}</ref>

Pakistani government decided to retaliate against the Afghan government's Pashtunistan policy by supporting Non-Pashtun opponents of the Afghan government including future Mujaheddin leaders like [[Gulbuddin Hekmatyar]] and [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]].<ref>[http://www.defencejournal.com/2001/apr/babar.htm "Remembering Our Warriors: Babar 'the great'."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428172353/http://www.defencejournal.com/2001/apr/babar.htm |date=2016-04-28 }} Interview of Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Naseerullah Khan Babar, by A. H. Amin. ''Defence Journal''. April 2001. Retrieved 15 April 2010.</ref> This operation was remarkably successful, and by 1977 the Afghan government of Daoud Khan was willing to settle all outstanding issues in exchange for a lifting of the ban on the [[National Awami Party]] and a commitment towards provincial autonomy for Pashtuns, which was already guaranteed by Pakistan's Constitution, but stripped by the Bhutto government when the [[One Unit]] scheme was introduced.{{Clarify|date=April 2010}}

Bacha Khan who previously strived greatly for Pashtunistan later on in 1980 during an interview with an Indian journalist, Haroon Siddiqui said that the "idea of Pashtunistan never helped Pashtuns. In fact it was never a reality". He further said that "successive [[Afghanistan|Afghan governments]] have exploited the idea for their own political ends". It was only towards the end of [[Mohammed Daoud Khan]] regime that he stopped talking about Pashtunistan. Later on, even [[Nur Muhammad Taraki]] also talked about the idea of Pashtunistan and caused trouble for Pakistan. He also said that "Pashtun people greatly suffered because of all this."<ref name="India Today" />

In 1976, the then president of Afghanistan, [[Mohammed Daoud Khan|Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan]] recognised Durand Line as international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He made this declaration while he was on an official visit to [[Islamabad]], [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rasanayagam|first=Angelo|title=Afghanistan: A Modern History|page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00ange/page/64 64]|year=2005|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=9781850438571|url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistan00ange|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Dorronsoro|first=Gilles|title=Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to present|page=84|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FApipiENsgwC|publisher=Hurst & Co. Publisher|year=2005|isbn=9781850656838}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Nunan|first=Timothy|title=Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan|page=125|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IL8wCwAAQBAJ|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2016|isbn=9781107112070}}</ref>

Daoud would be [[Saur Revolution|overthrown]] by [[Khalq]]ist military officers in 1978 leading to the formation of the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan]] which was dominated by [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] [[Khalq]]ists who would go on to "reopen the Pashtunistan wound". In 1979 under General Secretary [[Nur Muhammad Taraki]] the [[Khalq|Khalqists regime]] in [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] changed the official map to include [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa|NWFP]] and [[Balochistan]] as new "frontier provinces" of the [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|DRA]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Arnold |first=Anthony |title=Afghanistan’s Two-Party Communism: Parcham and Khalq |publisher=Hoover Institution Press |year=1983 |isbn=0-8179-7792-9 |pages=77}}</ref> The Khalqist regime also sought to make [[Pashto]] the sole language of the Afghan government and the lingua franca, they did so by undermining [[Dari]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal |last=Ahady |first=Anwar-ul-Haq |date=1995 |title=The Decline of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2645419 |journal=Asian Survey |volume=35 |issue=7 |pages=621–634 |doi=10.2307/2645419 |issn=0004-4687}}</ref> The [[National anthem of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghan anthem under the communist regime]] was only in Pashto and not Dari with non-Pashtuns being required to sing it in [[Pashto]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 May 2012 |title=Afghanistan (1978–1992) |url=http://www.nationalanthems.info/af-92.htm |access-date=18 October 2017 |website=nationalanthems.info |language=en-US}}</ref> Up until the [[Afghan Civil War (1989–1992)|overthrow]] of [[Mohammad Najibullah|Dr Najibullah's]] [[People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan|Homeland Party]] [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|regime]] in 1992, Afghan governments had favored Pashto in the media and over 50% of Afghan media was in Pashto.<ref name=":02" /> After 1992 with the formation of the [[Tajiks|Tajik]] led [[Islamic State of Afghanistan]], this number dropped drastically.<ref name=":02" />

Following the outbreak of the [[Soviet-Afghan War]] in Afghanistan, millions of [[Afghan refugees|Afghans including non-Pashtun people]] fled to [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/14905/ |title=The Troubled Afghan-Pakistani Border |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |first=Jayshree |last=Bajoria |date=20 March 2009 |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525182142/http://www.cfr.org/publication/14905/ |archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>