Here's what happened. In 1893, the British foreign secretary for India, Sir Mortimer Durand, drew a line on a map, thereby separating Afghanistan from what was then India and is now Pakistan. The trouble was that in creating the so-called Durand line, Sir Mortimer had divided up people who felt like they belonged together. These people, the Pashtuns, felt little allegiance to the government of, and little kinship with the people in, the countries to which they had so arbitrarily been assigned. (See the Origins section of the Afghanistan text for more details on the partition.)

It was a bit like being told that you could no longer support your favorite basketball team and instead had to root for one of a couple of teams in neighboring states. How reasonable would that be?

If you were a fan of Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets, for example, could you simply transfer your allegiance to the New Orleans Hornets or the Oklahoma City Thunder (two franchises that didn't even exist a few years ago) just because NBA Commissioner David Stern told you to?


Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets
(© 2005 Getty Images, Inc.)

It is perhaps not surprising then that, as U.S. troops have attempted to capture or kill Taliban fighters, Pakistanis have welcomed these fighters into their homes and communities. In many cases, it's less a case of Pakistanis offering refuge to Afghans than Pashtuns offering refuge to Pashtuns, the ethnic group that dominated the ranks of the Taliban. Similarly, the Pakistani students who quit their studies to help the Taliban probably felt like they were fighting alongside brothers, not simply foreigners whose interpretation of Islamic law mimicked their own.

Activity

Read through the Obstacles section of the World Conflicts Today text on Afghanistan.

Then, with particular reference to the passage titled "Pakistani Leadership Conundrum," explain in 150 or fewer words why Pakistani military action against Taliban militants living along the Pakistani-Afghan border could backfire.

Next, read the passage titled "Counter-insurgency" in the Recent Events section and, in 150 or fewer words, explain how bombing Taliban militants in the border area could also backfire.

Finally, in 500 or fewer words, describe what you would do to win the war against the Taliban.