The Dawn

Once the battle is lost and won. Once the hurly burly is done there will be time for peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan. Once the dust settles and the blood is washed. Once the flag goes up to full mast. Once the healing is done, and the battle and lost and won, it will be time to reassess our future. Jis qom me ghadar hun, us qom ke mazbut Qilhe bi rait ban jaate hain!

ایک ھوں مسلم حرم کي پاسباني کے لیے

نیل کے ساھل سے لےکر تا بکاخاک کاشگر

Gauhar Ayub in his various writings procalims that King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan had agreed to a confederation with Pakistan with Zahir Shah as the titular head of state of the new country. Mr. Gauhar Ayub calls this an opportunity lost. The desire of uniting the Paskhtuns on both sides of the border is mutual.

The Future of peace is Afghanistan 

Jean Monnet recommended a United States of Europe. Some European like T.R. Reid, Andrew Reding, and Mark Leonard, among others, believe that the power of the hypothetical United States of Europe will rival that of the United States of America in the 21st century. Pakistani intellectuals have been proposing a Muslim Union for Central Asia brought about by negotiations and discussion not warfare or conquest.

Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was the Jean Monnet of South Asia. The Original “Now or Never” was produced in 1939 by Ch. Rehmat Ali. This is the new “Now or Never- 2007″. A Muslim Asian Common-market like ASEAN or the EU.

“The Fatherland of Pak Nation (Ali 1940) “North West Frontier Province – is semantically non-descript and socially wrongful. It is non-descript because it merely indicates their geographical situation as a province of old ‘British India’ [which no longer exists]. It is wrongful because it suppresses the social entity of these people. In fact, it suppresses that entity so completely that when composing the name ‘Pakistan’ for our homelands, I had to call the North West Frontier Province the Afghan Province.“Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his book, “Pakistan”

Pakistan Afghanistan union map: The merger of Afghanistan and Pakistan is inevitable

Many Political analysts, Afghans and Pakistani’s have discussed the possibility of forming a confederation btw the two nations of Afghanistan & Pakistan.

Initially, the two nations would function under considerable autonomy, sharing only security, monetary and trade relations(already existent) and later on, as relations solidify and improve, there can be greater cohesion by unifying the political structure of these two nations. There will no doubt be many hurdles on the way from pressure groups in both Pakistan & Afghanistan, but the idea of Afghanistan and Pakistan as united countries is not so far fetched and is a natural sequel of the region vis-a-vis current patterns of orientation, trade links, population movement, historical/cultural/linguistic spheres and public sentiment. If one reads through history, you’ll find that the modern lands of Pakistan where in fact ‘Afghanistan’ just a few hundred years ago prior to British occupation. In fact, the modern nation state of Afghanistan created by Shah Abdali consisted of all of modern day Afghanistan, and all of modern day Pakistan(including every province in it:Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Kashmir). Coincidentally, the current Pakistan India border used to be the ancient border with Afghanistan. I refer you to the following link from an Afghan site which shows a map during the time of Abdali—> Afghan-web.com/history.empire.html

While Pakistan has surplus foods and is an established rising economic/regional power it suffers from a lack of natural resources and dominance of certain ethnic groups(mainly Punjabi who make up 46% of population, with the pushtuns in 2nd place at 18%) and a minority of Muslim refugees known as muhajir who came from India at the time of independence and were disproportionately represented in the countries services despite being less than 6% of the population. In Afghanistan, the country suffers from severe food shortages, is landlocked, yet does contain many natural resources. Afghanistan also suffers bitter ethnic rivalry between the Pushtuns (about 40% of the population) and Tajiks(@ 27%) an urbanized, educated and elite group with both showing varying antagonism towards other smaller groups such as the Hazaras, Turkomen etc…. Union/Confederation of Pakistan and Afghanistan would help these two former ‘Afghan Domains’ compliment each other, help create a healthy & equitable balance between ethnic groups in both countries and return these two countries to their original culture/linguistic borders. Many of the inherent difficulties the two nations currently suffer would in part be shared by the other half so to speak. Also, such a confederation would be a country of enormous potential, resources and strength in the region bringing along with it, stability, growth and prosperity to the entire region. It would also be by default a nuclear power and have considerable resources at its disposal. Political analyst have always stated that such a state is and most likely will be inevitable in the near future but the issue is not of if& how this will happen but rather of when it will happen! http://www.strategypage.com/militaryforums/68-3640.aspx

Unite! Erase the Durand Line Solution: Fixing “AfPak” expedites the inevitable union between Pakistan & Afghanistan The emerging “Leave Pakistan to Afghanistan” strategy goes mainstream–Extricating the US from the Lost in the Khyber

The Durand’s experiment has failed. It is time to erase the Durand Line. Mr. Karzai cannot control his area and his writ does not extend beyond Northwest Kabul. Foreign forces should exit the defunct country and failed state called Afghanistan.

After that a peace Pakistan-Pashtun Peace jirga should be held and all Pashtun provinces should be placed under the command of the tribals and the Pakistani authorities. As a first step all Pashtun provinces should be inculcated into the NWFP now renamed “Afghania“.

As a second step the Pakistani boundary should extend on the the Oxus (Amu Darya). Pakistani forces can keep the peace and NATO will not be needed to take the casualties.

This is not a hair brained scheme of some crackpot to create a caliphate. This is what Chaudhry Rehmat Ali had envisioned when he created the “Now or Never” phamplet on Pakistan.

Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of the Indus Valley Civilzation trading with each other, and with the Silk route ot China and to Sumer and Urr. This is not the first time Afghanistna and Pakistan will be united. Afghan and in particular Tajik traders and scholars regularly travelled to the Indus Valley in ancient times and plied their trade.

The trade corridor from Gwadar to Khyber to Amu Darya would be powerful engine. The economic potential of such a confederation would be enormous and help propel both countries forward economically particularly for Afghanistan, but Pakistan would also benefit considerably. This new confederation would  stabilize the entire region as a whole. The economies compliment each other. Pakistan supplies the surplus food to Afghanistan and Afghanistan provides links to Central Asia.

The Pathans of Pakistan.Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the world. More Pashtuns live in Pakistan than any other country in the world. In Pakistan Pashtuns have been part of the ruling class and make a huge number in the armed forces, totally disproportionate to their population. There have been two famou Pushtun heads of states in Pakistan, Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan. 

Pashtuns are known as Pathans in Pakistan. They control the transport business in Karachi and other areas, and are some of the hardest working Pakistanis. They liberated Azad Kashmir and defeated the USSR in Afghanistan. Millions of Afghan Pathans were born in Pakistan. Pakistan hosted the largest number of refugees in the world from Afghanistan, About 3 million refuse to go back and have become part of the Pakistani fabric.

One of the greatest Pathans was Ahmad Shah Abdali who went all the way to Delhi and took the Peocock throne and the Kohinoor.

Da Dili takht herauma cheh rayad krhm, Zma da khkule Pukhtunkhwa da ghre saroona. “I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall, The mountain peaks of my beautiful Pukhtunkhwa.” Ahma Shah Abdali

The Pakistani province of NWFP, popularly known as Sarhad is now being renamed to Paskhtunkhwa based on Ahmad Shah Abdali’s words. Khushal Khan Khattak was one of the greatest poets of Pakistan and of Pakhtunkhwa.

Most Pakistanis  foresee the eventual unification or reunificaiton of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both countries are ethnically diverse with large Pashtun minorities. Both countries depend on each other. Pakistan depends on Afghanistna for access to Central Asia, the brithplace of Babar and many Sufis. An unstable Afghanistn has spread instability in Pakistan and vice versa. Afghanistan and Pakistan depend on each other for trade and commerce. Landlocked Afghanitan would benifit from Gwadar and Port Qasim. Pakistan would ebnifit from having access to Uzbekistan. There is commonality of economic, linguistic, cultural, poliitcal, and historical bonds. Most of all both countries are Muslim and share a very strong link in the post-USSR era.

Most scholars agree that its not a matter of if the two countries unite, but rather of when they unite as the two countries histories seem inextricably intertwined. Such a union, would prove beneficial in many aspects. The Afghan (Pashtun) ethnic groups would finally be united and balance each other when part of a myriad of ethnic groups.

Traditionally, when Afghans were united in a nation of their own, they have often been bogged down in internal warfare and tribal feuds. However, when part of a multi ethnic state, they would flourished.

Afghanistan abundant untapped natural resources offer strategic depth which Pakistan lacks. The two countries were united as recently as the 18th century under the Afghan Empire founded by Ahmed Shah Durrani, an Afghan born in Multan, in the province of Panjab in modern day Pakistan

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The story of Afghanistan and colonialism begins a long time ago. British tried to take up White Man’s burden in Afghanistan. It suffered badly in Kabul and could not hold it. NATO Lessons: 1880 UK defeat at Maiwand-Afghanistan. Today ISAF is making the same mistakes as the British did a century again. Is NATO committing suicide in Afghanistan? There is a powerplay going on. …the CIA assassination. The US has considered every possibily. However the most obvious one escapes the $80 Billion think tank industry in the USA. Saving the Pashtuns of Afghania from Afghanistan.