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Pashtunistan - 1961-1963

The Pakhtunistan issue, a massive interference in the affairs of Afghanistan's southeastern neighbour Pakistan, was given state support by King Zahir Shah, Amanullah's grandson. The ruling family strangled a short era of liberalization in the late 1940s in 1953, when Prince Daud Khan, the king's cousin, became prime minister. He wanted to expand Afghanistan, to include the Pashtun areas and population of Pakistan. Sardar Daud Khan was a strong proponent of Pashtun nationalism and a serious Pakhtunistan activist. But this very issue was to precipitate Daud's downfall. The Pashtunistan question was pursued with hardline fervor by Prince Mohammad Daud in early 1960's.

In 1960, the dispute heated up again, when Afghan irregular and Army troops dressed up as tribesmen, penetrating the Pakistan side of the Durand Line in the Bajour area, about 70 miles north of Peshawar. This led to the closing down of Pakistani consulates in Afghanistan in August 1961.

The most serious crisis lasted from September 1961 to June 1963, when diplomatic, trade, transit, and consular relations between the countries were suspended. The Pashtunistan conflict which erupted in 1961-1963 effectively led to a closure of the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Running out of patience with Afghan agitation, Pakistan closed the border in August 1961. Afghanistan and Pakistan severed relations on September 6, 1961 and traffic between the two countries came to a halt. Afghanistan was thereby obliged to depend more heavily on the Soviet Union for trade and transit facilities.

The closure of the border with Pakistan over the Pashtunistan conflict in 1960-61 led to a change of the winter pastures from Pakistan to Afghanistan. As a result Afghan nomads were cut off from their winter grazing grounds and were forced to either abandon pastoralism or relocate to winter grazing areas within Afghanistan. During the first year, and then with lesser intensity in 1962, nomads actually fought with each other as they competed for new winter grasslands, and farmers resisted the nomads who established winter quarters near their villages. This led to a reshuffling of pasture user's rights in these new winter locations, from which ripple effects are still visible today in the provinces bordering Pakistan. Many of the wealthier pashtun nomads [kuchi] abandoned livestock production at this point, and invested in other businesses, which is one of the reasons why many wealthy kuchi are involved in the transportation business nowadays.

By 1963, it became clear that neither Daoud Khan nor Ayub Khan, then ruler of Pakistan, would yield and to settle the issue one of them would have to be removed from power. Afghanistan's economy was suffering from the dispute and in March 1963, with the backing of the royal family, King Zahir Shah sought Daoud Khan's resignation on the basis that the country'seconomy was deteriorating as a result of his position regarding the Pashtun tribes in Pakistan. Daoud Khan resigned in March 1963 and was succeeded by Dr. Mohammed Yousuf as Prime Minister of Afghanistan. The change improved the atmosphere and diplomatic relations were restored in May 1963. The border was also reopened by Pakistan in May 1963.

The United States has always supported Pakistan on the issues of the Durand Line and Pashtunistan. According to the U.S. State Department, "The Pashtunistan campaign is as farcical stunt on the part of the Royal Family to promote its own interests."