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Pakistanis in Afghanistan include diplomats, traders, businesspersons, workers, exchange students, and tourists. It also includes Pakistani refugees, members of militant groups, and small number of prisoners. Because Pakistan and Afghanistan are neighbouring states with a loosely-controlled border, and a distributed population of ethnic Pashtuns and Baloch people, there is constant flow of population between the two countries.

History

Dynasties, especially the Mughals, and people from the Indian subcontinent (modern-day Pakistan and India) have been coming to Afghanistan for many centuries. Before the mid-19th century, Afghanistan and the entire present-day Pakistan were part of the Durrani Empire (Afghan Empire) and ruled by a successive line of Afghan kings with their capitals in Kandahar and Kabul. In 1857, in his review of J.W. Kaye's The Afghan War, Friedrich Engels describes "Afghanistan" as:

an extensive country of Asia between Persia and the Indies, and in the other direction between the Hindu Kush and the Indian Ocean. It formerly included the Persian provinces of Khorassan and Kohistan, together with Herat, Beluchistan, Cashmere, and Sinde, and a considerable part of the Punjab Its principal cities are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar.

Thus, interaction and migration between the native people in this region was common. After the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the Durand Line was established in the late 1800s for fixing the limits of sphere of influence between Mortimer Durand of British India and Afghan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. When Pakistan inherited this single-page agreement in 1947, which was basically to end politicial interference beyond the frontier line between Afghanistan and what was then colonial British India, it divided the indigenous ethnic Pashtun and Baloch tribes. Most of the wars that Pakistan and Afghanistan have experianced since the 1940s with their other neighbors (India and former USSR) some how relate to this Durand Line border.

During the 1980s Soviet war, large number of Pakistan-based Mujahideen forces began crossing the Pak-Afghan border into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets and the Soviet-backed Afghan government. After the withdrawl of Soviet forces, the collapse of Najibullah's government and the end of civil war, the Pakistan-backed Taliban took over Afghanistan. Many among the Taliban were Pakistanis. Maulana Sami ul Haq, chancellor of Darul Uloom Haqqania in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, is referred to as the "Father of the Taliban". The Taliban were assisted by Pakistani Armed Forces in their war with Ahmad Shah Massoud's Northern Alliance (United Front) in the late 1990s.

After the death of Massoud and the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 by the US-led coalition forces, members of the Taliban who had fled to Pakistan during Operation Enduring Freedom regrouped and began a strong insurgency campain inside Afghanistan. The insurgents include militants from the Quetta Shura Taliban, ISI-backed Haqqani network, al-Qaida, and others. While most are Afghans, many Pakistanis and foreigners from the Muslim world are also among them. At the same time, many Pakistanis got involved in the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

Workers

By 2006, there were about 60,000 Pakistanis working in Afghanistan; the exact number was unclear because of the lack of government records. Pakistanis could be found working not just in the main cities such as Kandahar, but also less-accessible provinces such as Ghazni, Wardak, or Helmand. Many work in the construction sector, while others have found jobs as information technology professionals for United Nations organisations and foreign companies in urban areas; they have an increasing demand due to their skills and mostly come from the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. As many as one-sixth cross the border on any given day.

In May 2011, several white-collar expatriate Pakistanis crossing the border at Torkham were being asked irritating questions by local authorities. One was asked as to why he was going to Afghanistan while others had their materials and laptops searched. The expatriates sent a complaint and brought the issue to the notice of Pakistani Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq in Kabul.

Refugees

In January 2008, BBC reported that about 6,000 Pakistanis from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa crossed into Afghanistan, which included women and children. While fighting in northwest-Pakistan between the Pakistani Armed Forces and the Pakistani Taliban may have been one reason, Sunni Shia sectarian strife was also suggested as a possible driver for their flight. They were able to receive medical aid in Khost and Paktika provinces. By September 2008, their number had reached 20,000, and about 70% of the refugees were Pakistanis while the rest were Afghans who had settled in Pakistan during the last 20 or so years. More Pakistani refugees went to Afghanistan after the 2010 Pakistan floods.

Criminals and prisoners

Pakistani insurgents or terrorists are active inside Afghanistan, some were arrested in the last decade and are held in different prisons across the country. They are usually from the Waziristan region, the city of Quetta and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, and engaged in suicide attacks against Indians in Afghanistan as well as US-led NATO forces and the Government of Afghanistan. Others are involved in assassinations, ambushes, planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs), kidnappings, smuggling and other illegal activities. NATO and Afghan officials also blame Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy network for being involved in some of these. Besides the serious criminals, there are unknown number of Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan who are held for visa violation or petty crimes.

Notable Pakistanis buried in Afghanistan

• Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (Bacha Khan), leader of the non-violent Khudai Khidmatgar movement, founder of the National Awami Party and Politician in Pakistan

See also

• Afghans in Pakistan
• Afghanistan–Pakistan relations

References

1. ^ "Resolving the Pakistan- Afghanistan Stalemate". Barnett R. Rubin and Abubakar Siddique. United States Institute for Peace. October 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
2. Friedrich Engels (1857). "Afghanistan". Andy Blunden. The New American Cyclopaedia, Vol. I. Retrieved August 25, 2010. The principal cities of Afghanistan are Kabul, the capital, Ghuznee, Peshawer, and Kandahar.
3. Smith, Cynthia (August 2004). "A Selection of Historical Maps of Afghanistan - The Durand Line". United States: Library of Congress. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
4. The Father of the Taliban: An Interview with Maulana Sami ul-Haq , Imtiaz Ali, Spotlight on Terror, The Jamestown Foundation, Volume 4, Issue 2, May 23, 2007
5. Pakistanis working in Afghanistan being bothered by agencies, The News.
6. Leithead, Alastair (2008-01-07), "Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan", BBC News, retrieved 2009-04-28
7. Burns, John F. (September 29, 2008). "Pakistani Refugees Pour Into Afghanistan". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
8. "Pakistanis flee into Afghanistan", BBC News, 2008-09-29, retrieved 2009-04-28
9. Pakistani female beggars in Kabul. June 30, 2011.
10. Pakistani female beggar in Kabul. June 30, 2011.
11. living room for Pakistani beggars in Kabul. June 30, 2011.
12. Schifrin, Nick (June 21, 2011). "How the Taliban Turned a Child Into a Suicide Bomber". ABC News. Retrieved October 15, 2011.
13. "Bombing suspect says Pakistani mullahs brainwashed him". July 28, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-23. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |pubisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
14. "Haqqani network threatens attacks on judges". June 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-23. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |pubisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
15. Pakistan, Afghanistan discuss prisoner swap

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• Pakistani diaspora in Afghanistan
• Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
• Immigration to Afghanistan