afghanistanit was not until the declaration of Indian Independence and Partition
that the issue became an increasingly important element in the Afghan
government’s foreign relations. Afghanistan’s advocacy for the unifica-
tion of all the Pushtun tribes of the Pakistan–Afghan frontier, however,
led to a serious and prolonged confrontation with Pakistan. 30 Following
Britain’s announcement of its withdrawal from India, the Afghan govern-
ment claimed a historic right to sovereignty over the Pushtun tribes on the
Indian side of the Durand Line. When Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy
of India, ordered a referendum in the Northwest Frontier Province, the
vote offered only two options: to join India or Pakistan. Ghaffar Khan
demanded the vote include a third option, complete independence, and
when Mountbatten refused his followers boycotted the plebiscite. Shah
Mahmud, on the other hand, wrote to the Viceroy petitioning for a fourth
option, the right of the tribes to come under the sovereignty of Afghanistan.
In reply, Mountbatten informed Shah Mahmud that under international
law Pakistan legally assumed all the rights of the former imperial power,
including inheriting the international frontiers as agreed under the Durand
Agreement and subsequent Anglo-Afghan treaties.
When the votes from the referendum were counted just over 55
per cent of them were in favour of joining Pakistan (one wonders what
chaos would have ensued had the vote been in favour of remaining part
of India). Both ‘Abd al-Ghaffar and the Afghan government refused to
accept the result, claiming it did not represent the wishes of all Pushtuns
since many of them had boycotted the plebiscite. When the issue of inter-
national recognition of West and East Pakistan was laid before the United
Nations, Afghanistan voted against the motion, though a few months later
the government did accord Pakistan recognition after Pakistani officials
verbally promised Afghanistan that the two countries would negotiate
over the management of Tribal Territory. The talks never took place and
successive Pakistani administrations refused to discuss Afghan demands
for a second referendum or self-determination for Pushtunistan.
A year after the founding of West Pakistan, ‘Abd al-Ghaffar and other
leaders of the Khudai Khidmatgar were arrested, which led to a vitriolic
propaganda campaign against Pakistan by the Afghan government. On
30 June 1949 the Wolusi Jirga formally adopted the establishment of
Pushtunistan as national policy and revoked all international agreements
relating to the Durand Line. On the Pakistan side of the frontier an Afridi
jirga declared an independent Pushtunistan ‘from Chitral to Baluchistan
and from the Khyber to the banks of the Indus’, whereupon Afridis on
the Afghan side poured across the border bearing the newly created