Re: 'Pashtunistan' Issues Linger Behind Afghan-Pakistani Row
Soomro & PP: The confederation issue was very well known in the 1950's it was essentially agreed upon by the Afghan leaders and many Pak leaders..it would have simultaneously ended any talk of the pakhtunistan issue unfortunately Isander Mirza raised objections at the last minute and the talks collapsed..after that Ayub Khan took over and the issue was dropped. Its been mentioned in Iskander Mirzas autobiography as well as by other writers at the time. If you want some names pm me..
With regard to US interests: In 1971 the U-2 flights had long since stopped Pakistan was still under a US embargo and the US key ally in the region was not Pakistan it was Iran..US-Iran relations till the Islamic revolution were far closer than US-Pak relations... as far as weapons were concerned..the only reason the US flexed it's naval power in the Indian ocean was to warn against direct USSR involvement and as a "thank you" to Pakistan for brokering the US-China deal. As I said the US has never militarily intervened for an ally unless its own interests were attacked, it did not intervene to stop the fall of the Shah in Iran..and it didn't even intervene to help Britain in the falklands war..that is just superpower logic..being a US enemy is dangerous but being a US ally can be fatal unless your nations name starts with I and ends with L. I take your point about territorial acquisition though the US may have forced a ceasefire eventually but who knows how bad things would have reached by that stage?
, the Indians held back because it was militarily a waste of resources to invade West Pakistan..but even so the Pak Army was in ruins at the time and even in the beginning of the 1971 war when India had focussed forces against India the Pak Army leadership had bungled offensive operations..so a small force invasion from the West would have been a disaster. In the end at those critical moments in 1947-48 and 1971 ..the simple fact is Afghanistan did not intervene..either out of kindness or weakness.
Dabz: Don't mind antiobl..his bark is worse than his bite..but I do admit his bark is pretty loud.