Pashtun nationalism (Pashto:پښتون ملتپالنه) is an ideology that asserts the Pashtuns are a nation and promotes the unity of Pashtuns.[1] ThePashtun question which is the debate over the creation of anindependent Pashtun nation-state from the Pashtun-majority regions of Pakistan (Pakthunkhwa andNorthern Balochistan) emerged in the early 20th century and became a major source oftension between Afghanistan and Pakistan.[2][3][4][5][6] This issue dominatedAfghan foreign policy until the overthrow ofMohammad Najibullah'sHomeland Party regime in 1992.[7][8] Pashtun nationalists generally support the concept of a "Greater Afghanistan" (The unification ofPashtunistan withAfghanistan).[1][9]
An early Pashtun nationalist was the 17th-century "warrior-poet"Khushal Khan Khattak, who was imprisoned by theMughal emperorAurangzeb for trying to incite the Pashtuns to rebel against the rule of the Mughals.[citation needed] However, despite sharing a common language and believing in a common ancestry, the Pashtuns first achieved unity in the 18th century after being under foreign rule for many centuries. The eastern parts ofPashtunistan was ruled by theMughal Empire, while the western parts were ruled by thePersian Safavids as their easternmost provinces.[citation needed] During the early 18th century, Pashtun tribes led byMirwais Hotak successfully revolted against theSafavids in the city ofKandahar. In a chain of events, he declaredLoy Kandahar and other parts of what is now southern Afghanistan independent.[citation needed] By 1738 theMughal Empire had been defeated and theircapital sacked and looted by forces of a newIranian rulerNader Shah Afshar. Besides Persian,Turkmen, andCaucasian forces, Nader was also accompanied by the youngAhmad Shah Durrani and 4,000 well-trained Pashtun troops.[citation needed]
After the death of Nader Shah in 1747 and the disintegration of his massive empire, Ahmad Shah Durrani establishedDurrani Empire, which included most of present-dayAfghanistan andPakistan, among other regions.[10] The famous couplet by Ahmad Shah Durrani describes the association the people have with the regional city ofKandahar:[citation needed]
Da Dilī takht zə hērawəma chē rāyād kṛəm, zəmā da ṣ̌hkuləi Paṣ̌htūnkhwā da ghrō sarūna.
Translation: "I forget the throne ofDelhi when I recall, the mountain peaks of my beautifulPashtunkhwa."
The lastAfghan Empire was established in 1747 and united differenttribes as well as many other ethnic groups.[citation needed]
Parts of the Pashtunistan region aroundPeshawar was invaded byRanjit Singh and hisPunjabi army in the early part of the 19th century, but a few years later they were defeated by theBritish, which reached the Pashtunistan region from the east.[citation needed] In 1836 the Emir of Afghanistan,Dost Mohammad Khan proposed that theIndus river serve as the border between Afghanistan and India in exchange for the Emir renouncing his authority over Kashmir.[5] The British however supported the Punjabis in Lahore and their claim over Peshawar which greatly offended the Emir of Afghanistan who had claims on the Pashtun city.[5]
Following First World War,King Amanullah believing the British and Indian troops would be "too war-weary to resist" sent detachments of Afghan soldiers which were assisted by tribal formations, what is nowKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andNorthern Baluchistan in an attempt to reclaim allPashtun territory west of theIndus river which had been lost during the 1800s, sparking theThird Anglo-Afghan War.[11] However the British were unnerved by King Amanullah's alliance with the newBolshevik government in Moscow and were angry at King Amanullah's aggitation of nationalists within the defined borders of the Raj and conducted an aerial bombing campaign on Kabul. Many Pashtuns from the occupied territories such asNisar Muhammad Esapzai enlisted in the Afghan Army and resisted the British in order to reunite withAfghanistan.[12] While the war resulted in a diplomatic victory for King Amanullah gainingde jure control over its foreign affairs (despite no Afghan ruler abiding by the treaty with Afghanistan continuing to maintain relations with Britain's adversaries such asGermany andRussia), his initial goal of reuniting all Pashtuns was not met and as a result of the war the Afghan military began to be reformed and theAfghan Air Force was established in 1921 withSoviet assistance.[11][13]
Seven weeks before the partition ofBritish India, aLoya Jirga was held which includedBacha Khan,Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, theKhudai Khidmatgars, members of theProvincial Assembly, Mirzali Khan (popularly known as theFaqir of Ipi), and various other Pashtun tribal leaders. The Pashtunistan Resolution, often referred to as theBannu Resolution, was adopted on the 21 June 1947. The resolution demanded that Pashtuns be given the option to have a independent Pashtunistan consisting of allPashtun territory in British India, rather than choosing to join the dominions ofIndia orPakistan.[14] The British refused the demands which resulted in Pashtuns who were eligible to vote (Pashtuns in the Princly states were not eligible to vote) to boycott the referendum.[15][16][17]
"That a free Pashtunistan of all Pashtuns be established. The Constitution of the State will be framed on the basis of Islamic conception, democracy, equality and social justice. This meeting appeals to all Pashtuns to unite for the attainment of this cherished goal and not to submit to any non-Pashtun domination".[18]
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General Mohammad Daoud Khan, acting without the authorization of Kabul, mobilized 6 well equipped Royal Afghan Army brigades at the border with the goal of crossing the border and initiating a Pashtun uprising in order to annex the Pashtun regions which were meant to go to Pakistan under the British partition plan by utilizing the chaos of thepartition of British India. However General Daoud Khan was dismissed from his post and made ambassador to France.[5]Afghanistan was the only country to vote againstPakistan's membership into theUnited Nations in 1947 in protest to the inclusion ofPashtun-inhabited lands, arguing that Pashtuns had the right to self determination.[19] The currently-used red and blackPashtunistan flag was adopted with the black representing the traditional flag color of Afghanistan, and red representing the previous Pashtun rebel flags used against theBritish Empire.[20][21] The Pashtunistan flag was raised in Kabul on 2 September 1947, alongside theAfghan flag.[22]
After the establishment of Pakistan, Bacha Khan pledged his allegiance to the newly independent country in theConstituent Assembly of Pakistan, and said that he would continue to work for greater autonomy within the framework of the state of Pakistan. However, theFaqir of Ipi who had previously led numerous rebellions against the British, launched a rebellion against the newly formedPakistani state in an effort to secede fromPakistan and form an independentPashtunistan. The Faqir of Ipi took control ofNorth Waziristan'sDatta Khel area and declared the establishment of an independent Pashtunistan, supported by Afghan PrinceMohammad Daoud Khan and other leaders. The area was eventually re-annexed intoPakistan in the early 1950s.[23][24] In 1949 theRoyal Pakistani Air Force bombed the Afghan village of Mughalgai which prompted the Afghan national assembly to adopt a resolution repudiating all 19th century treaties signed between Afghanistan and British India on the grounds that the agreement signatory of British India no longer existed.[5]
With the rise General Daoud Khan as prime minister in 1953, thePashtunistan question became a major issue of Afghanistan's foreign and domestic politics.[5] The dispute intensified in 1955 as Afghanistan opposed Pakistan'sOne Unit Scheme which merged North-West Frontier Province, Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab into one political unit known as West Pakistan, with Afghanistan and Pashtun nationalists viewing the scheme as a way to erode the Pashtun identity and challenge the administrative status of the tribal regions. As a result Pashtun nationalists attacked the Pakistani embassy in Kabul and consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar, burning the Pakistani flag.[5] Pakistan would block transit routes to Afghanistan as a result leading to Afghanistan to sign a transit treaty with the Soviet Union that same year.[5] Afghanistan would hold aLoya Jirga in November 1955 which authorized the government to aggressively pursue the Pashtunistan issue and acquire modern weaponry and military hardware from any source possible.[5] Three weeks after the Loya Jirga, Soviet PremierNiktia Khruschev visited Kabul from December 16th to December 18th. During the visit the Soviet leader endorsed Afghanistan's position on Pashtunistan.[5]
Afghanistan would continue to give arms and supplies to Pashtun separatist leaders such as Fazl Akbar (also known as Pacha Gul) in Bajaur.[25][26] In October 1961, Prime Minister Daoud Khan sent tribal militias and Royal Afghan Army soldiers to Bajaur to support the Pro-Afghan Pashtun tribal chiefs against the Pakistani backed Nawab of Khar.[26][27] The clashes led to heavy casualties on both sides.[27] As a result of the economic downturn because of the blockade imposed by Pakistan, Daoud Khan was asked to resign. Instead of resigning, Daoud Khan requested KingZahir Shah to approve new 'one-party constitution' proposed by him which would in turn increase Daoud Khan's already considerable power. Upon rejection, Daoud Khan angrily resigned.[28] During the so called "decade of democracy", Pashtun nationalist parties such as theAfghan Social Democratic Party (More commonly known as Afghan Mellat) were founded. The founder of Afghan Mellat was the former Mayor of Kabul,Ghulam Mohammad Farhad. Farhad had previously studied inNazi Germany and was fascinated by aspects of Nazi policy.[29] The Afghan Mellat Party favors thePashtunization of Afghanistan and supports the concept of Greater Afghanistan. The Afghan Mellat party was accused by its critics of beingfascist, a labelled denied by the party.[30][31][32]
Daoud Khan was unsatisfied with King Zahir Shah's constitutional parliamentary system and lack of progress. He planned rebellion for more than a year[33] before he seized power from the King on 17 July 1973. Thecoup was bloodless, and backed by a large number of army officers who were loyal to him, facing no resistance he declared a Republic with himself as president.[34]
Many Pashtuns opposed the premiership ofZulfiqar Ali Bhutto and what they viewed as anti Pashtun policies. As a result many young Pashtuns disillusioned with Bacha Khan's ideology of non violence decided to wage an armed campaign of terrorism against the Pakistani state with the separatist militant organization Pashtun Zalmay (Pashtun Youth) being founded in Peshawar in 1973. Pashtun Zalmay received support from theAfghan government between 1973 and 1976. In 1975 the governor ofNorth-West Frontier Province,Hayat Sherapo was assassinated with the blame going to Pashtun Zalmay andAbdul Wali Khan.[35][36] The Afghan government also created and armed tribal formations consisting of 3000 men to fight the Pakistani government.[37] These formations were trained by the Afghan Republican Guard.[38][39][40] In October 1977, thePeople's Democratic Party of Afghanistan's released a manifesto. Article 8 of the manifesto called theDurand Line a "colonial imposition" and pledged support for the "National Movement of the People of Pashtunistan".[41]
On April 28th 1978, the Saur Revolution brought thePDPA–Khalq to power with the new leaderNur Muhammad Taraki bringing up the issue ofPashtunistan during his first press conference on May 6, 1978. In May 1979, Pakistani PresidentZia Al Haq expressed his concerns to US PresidentJimmy Carter regarding the Khalq Regime's stance towards the Durand Line citing article 8 of the PDPA's manifesto.[42] The new Khalqist leadership in Kabul continued to not recognize the Durand Line as the international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, instead Taraki and Hafizullah Amin pushed for the idea of a Pashtun led, "Greater Afghanistan".[43] Taraki would raise the idea of a Greater Afghanistan extending to the sea and training the army to act in this region, against Pakistan to Soviet PremierLeonid Brezhnev arguing that in doing so the Soviet Union could reach the Strait of Hormuz and gain access to the Indian Ocean through Afghanistan, and that the people of these regions viewed the predominately Punjabi Pakistan as "foreign", stating that
“We must not leave the Pashtun and Baluch (of Pakistan) in the hands of the imperialists, Already now it would be possible to launch a national liberation struggle amongst these tribes and include the Pashtun and Baluch regions in Afghanistan.”[37]
In August 1978,Hafizullah Amin told Soviet AmbassadorAlexander Puzanov and Soviet Major General L.N. Gorelov
“We are not parading the question of Pashtunistan and Baluchistan in the press although this question is still on the agenda. The territory of Afghanistan must reach to the shores of the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. We wish to see the sea with our own eyes.”[37]
In 1979 under General SecretaryNur Muhammad Taraki theKhalqists regime inAfghanistan changed the official map to includeNWFP andBalochistan as new "frontier provinces" of theDRA.[44] While addressing tribal leaders on 29th July 1979, Amin declared that
"All nationalities from the Oxus to the Abasin are brothers from one homeland. The waves of bravery of the Pashtuns and Baluchis of the whole region is reflected in the revolutionary emotions of the toilers here... our revolution is revered and welcomed from the Oxus to the Abasin... from the mountains of the Pamirs to the beaches of Gwadar in Baluchistan"[43]
In October 1979,Hafizullah Amin who was now the leader of Afghanistan brought up the issue of Greater Afghanistan again saying
“Our task is to direct the officers and soldiers and all the Afghan people to the Durand line which we do not recognize, and then to the valley of the Indus which must be our border. If we do not fulfill this historic task, then one can say that we have been working in vain. We must have an outlet to the Indian Ocean!”[37]
The Khalqist regime also sought to makePashto the main language of the Afghan government, as it represented the clear majority, and in their view should serve as the lingua franca.[45] In February 1981, thePashtun Social Democratic Party (PSDP) was formed byKabir Stori Esapzai. ThePSDP rejects the legitimacy of the Durand Line and supports the concept of Greater Afghanistan.[46][47] The PSDP logo consists of the Pashtunistan emblem. In 1987, Mohammad Najibullah became the President of Afghanistan. A SovietGRU dossier on Najibullah described him as "A Pashtun nationalist, he is one of the motivating spirits of the policy of “Pashtunization” of Afghan society. Within his closest circle he speaks only in Pashto. He is inclined to select colleagues not for their professional qualities but for their personal devotion to him, predominantly relatives and fellow-villagers".[48] Up until theoverthrow ofDr Najibullah'sHomeland Partyregime in 1992, Afghan governments had heavily promoted thePashto language in media with over 50% of Afghan media being in Pashto.[45] After 1992 with the formation of theTajik ledIslamic State of Afghanistan, this number dropped drastically.[45]
In 2014 the Pashtun Protection Movement (PTM) was founded by eight students. The organization and its leader Chairman Manzoor Pashteen have been accused by the Pakistani government of separatist tendencies, being funded by Afghanistan'sNDS and having ties to theTaliban.[49][50][51] In 2024,Gilaman Wazir, a member of PTM who fierce advocate of the concept of Greater Afghanistan was arrested by Bahraini Security Forces on anInterpol 'Red Notice' issued at Pakistan's request.[52] On March 8, Bahraini authorities extradited Gilaman to Pakistan, where he was immediately detained and subjected to severe hard torture.[53][54][55] On July 7, 2024, Gilaman was attacked inIslamabad, reportedly under orders from the Pakistani government due to the perceived threat he posed to the state of Pakistan.[56][57][58] The severity of his injuries were fatal and he was buried wrapped in theAfghan Tricolor flag in accordance to his wishes with tens of thousands showing up for his funeral inNorth Waziristan.[59][60][61][62][63] His assassination sparked mass anger inAfghanistan,Pakhtunkhwa and among thePashtun diaspora with the hashtag #GilamanWazir trending widely despite a media blackout in Pakistan.[64][65][66][67] Protests were held worldwide, including in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Austria.[68]
Pashtunistan, an aspirational name coined long ago by advocates of an independent Pashtun homeland. From bases in the Pakistani part of it — the Federally Administered Tribal Areas toward the north and Baluchistan province in the south