Pashtunism views Tajiks as an internal enemy and Pakistan as an external one.
Author: Rustam Rushangar, analyst, especially for Sangar
In two historical periods, Pakistan supported the Pashtuns against the Tajiks. During the period of the Islamic State under the leadership of Ustad Rabbani, Pakistan supported Hizb-e-Islami. During the first period of Resistance, Pakistan supported the Taliban and actually created the Taliban in collaboration with the British. At the beginning of the Second Resistance, Pakistan also helped the Taliban.
If we Tajiks are at enmity with Pakistan because of the above-described cases and seek revenge, then that is a different matter.
But in military and political affairs, friendship and enmity are not constant, and interests require a revision of friendship and enmity under special conditions. At the very least, the military and political direction must be able to maintain a certain level of flexibility to cooperate with a previous enemy against a new enemy if necessary. That is, we should not make the enemy such a taboo that we cannot change our position and enter a new stage of relations.
If you look deeper, the Pashtuns were the initiators of the hostility between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was the Pashtuns who did not recognize the official border between the two countries and created a threat to the territorial integrity of Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan has been thinking about how to weaken Afghanistan. So, in essence, Pakistan's attempt to weaken the governments in Afghanistan was a defensive measure, which is the right of every country.
We Tajiks also spoke about enmity with Pakistan standing next to the Pashtuns. Whenever there was a call for Pashtuns to mobilize for war with Pakistan, Tajiks and other ethnic groups responded. The Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks did not say that the enmity with Pakistan was due to the Pashtuns. In fact, everyone, including the Pashtuns, called for hostility with Pakistan. The number of Tajiks killed along the border with Pakistan while defending the territorial integrity of Afghanistan was much greater than the number of Pashtuns killed. Here, in essence, the non-Pashtuns exercised their right to coexist with the Pashtuns and under the leadership of the Pashtuns and under the slogan of national unity and patriotism, they considered Pakistan as an enemy and sacrificed themselves for this purpose.
But what did the Pashtuns do? The Pashtuns received weapons, ammunition and logistics from Pakistan and fought against the Tajiks. With the help of Pakistan, the Pashtuns forced the Tajik government to retreat, and when the Tajiks resisted until the last days, the Pashtuns not only subjected the Tajiks to the most brutal military attacks, but also carried out a scorched earth policy on Tajik territory. They also put them under a brutal economic blockade, and these people had to buy a kilogram of salt for 100,000 Afghanis, and people died of hunger. More severe than the Israeli blockade of Gaza. In fact, during the entire period that Pakistan was against the Tajiks, the Pashtuns were at the forefront of the war against the Tajiks. That is, the Pashtuns themselves created both their enmity and friendship with Pakistan. Pashtun political and military leaders consider Pakistan as their second home and then during the defeat phase they seek refuge in Pakistan.
According to the above, this requires the Tajiks to reconsider their enmity with Pakistan. If the Pashtuns can get military and political support from this country against the Tajiks, despite their claims of enmity with Pakistan, why don't the Tajiks do the same? And this despite the fact that our enmity with Pakistan is single-factor, and our enmity with the Pashtuns is multi-factorial. Afghanistan is now dominated by a Pashtun government that claims it does not listen to Pakistan. The same government, the same policies of suppression and exclusion and hostility are aimed at Tajiks.
Enmity with Pakistan is also Indian policy to some extent. India wants to expand its enmity with Pakistan through Afghanistan. Of course, since the Pashtuns have always pursued a policy of friendship and enmity with Pakistan at the same time, this prompted India to channel its support towards the Pashtuns to attack Pakistan's interests. During the republic period, India was one of the largest contributors to the Karzai-Ghani government, which sometimes raised anti-Pakistan slogans. With the return of the Taliban to power, it was expected that India would distance itself from the Pashtun ruling group due to its dependence on Pakistan, but we saw that the Taliban's false slogans against Pakistan and air raids by Taliban border militants on Pakistan attracted India to the Taliban and that country sought to engage with the Taliban. That is, even India is not particularly interested in the enmity of the Tajiks with Pakistan, and this argument is unlikely to benefit us. That benefit that would insure us against the threat of an invasion of the Pashtun army into Tajik territories. Maybe some people are getting operational money from India but it is not worth the Tajik people being hostile to Pakistan.
The fact is that Pashtunism is the main problem in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pashtunism views non-Pashtuns and especially Tajiks as enemies at home and wages hostilities against Pakistan abroad. Thus, a sound policy would be for the Tajiks to enter into close negotiations with Pakistan and take joint action to curb Pashtunism, which undermines the security and stability of the two countries and the entire region, as well as the source of terrorist groups and the basis for major power interventions. Our Tajiks' enmity towards Pakistan due to the fact that Pakistan supports the Pashtuns against us rather indicates our diplomatic passivity and the adoption of isolationist, conservative, and uncomprehensive approaches that do not bring benefits.
