Asif Mahmood
Is Afghanistan Truly a Friend of Pakistan? When I ask my heart, it says yes, Afghanistan is a brotherly and friendly country. But when I ask my mind, it replies with questions that demand honest answers before any conclusion can be drawn.
Is Afghanistan really so innocent that India has used it against Pakistan since 1947 without its consent? Or is it that Afghanistan itself harbors resentment toward Pakistan and waits for every possible opportunity to express it?
There is one crucial similarity between India and Afghanistan that we rarely discuss. India believes that the creation of Pakistan divided “Bharat Mata.” Afghanistan believes that Pakistan’s creation divided Afghan land. India claims parts of Pakistan, and regardless of whether the government in New Delhi is Congress or BJP, that claim remains. Afghanistan too has never abandoned its territorial claim, whether under King Zahir Shah, Hamid Karzai, or the Taliban.
Only two countries in the world have an open political stance that questions Pakistan’s territorial integrity: India and Afghanistan. India still struggles to accept Pakistan’s existence, while Afghan leaders, even when speaking of peace in Doha, often reject the Durand Line in the same breath.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has never claimed an inch of Indian or Afghan territory. (Occupied Kashmir is a separate issue, as it was never legally India’s.) Yet both of these neighbors maintain positions that challenge Pakistan’s sovereignty and threaten its national security.
India has already turned water into a weapon against Pakistan, and Afghanistan, backed financially and technically by India, appears to be moving in the same direction. India now disowns the Indus Waters Treaty, while Pakistan has been trying for 25 years to sign a water-sharing agreement with Afghanistan. Kabul has consistently refused.
Building dams is every country’s right, including Afghanistan’s. But international law also recognizes the rights of downstream countries over shared rivers. That is why such matters are usually resolved through bilateral treaties. Pakistan has long sought such an arrangement with Afghanistan, but every Afghan government, nationalist or Islamist, has avoided it.
What makes this situation more puzzling is that Afghanistan already has a water-sharing treaty with Iran. Why then is Pakistan the exception? What wrong has Pakistan committed that no Afghan government has ever been willing to formalize cooperation on water issues?
When Afghan nationalists were in power, we were told they were angry because Pakistan secretly supported the Taliban while pretending to stand with the United States. Now under the Taliban, we are told they are upset because Pakistan sided with America instead of them. In short, the only thing both groups seem to agree on is that Pakistan must be blamed, no matter what the situation.
Did Iran help Afghanistan more than Pakistan did? Iran kept Afghan refugees confined to camps. Pakistan, by contrast, opened its borders, schools, and homes, allowing millions of Afghans to live with dignity. Yet, despite this generosity, Afghanistan’s hostility toward Pakistan persists, while it enjoys cordial relations with others.
Every state protects its interests, sometimes through cooperation, sometimes through conflict. But Pakistan made a rare mistake. For years, we romanticized Afghanistan and portrayed it as a heroic neighbor to the extent that some among us now criticize our own country instead of recognizing Afghanistan’s unfriendly policies. This mindset has created a deep fault line in our society. Is anyone willing to address it?