Indian, Iranian unease over Pak-Afghan warming relations

[Dance]

This has a lot do with ethnic makeup of Afghanistan. The Pakhtun of Afghanistan will be in absolute majority if Pakistani Pakhtuns joins them. The Dari speakers are not eager but use it as an diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Talking about our neighbors: I think we have to have close brotherly relations with Iran and Afghanistan; we need to have close strategic partnership with China and we have to resolve Kashmir issue before we can have good relations with India. Who do you care about ?

But it goes to show you how they are still living in a delusional world by not recognizing it. Anyways we should have good relations with all our neighbors but we cannot when these same people do not feel the same way. I care about having good relations with India and Iran. Afghanistan after seeing the way they act and talk, I dont get why we go out of our way to please them in any way.

 

[Dance]

I think you are forgetting Pakistani support during Russian invasion.
You are forgetting that it was Pakistan who hosted afghan embassy.
You are forgetting many things.... but you are not Afghan, after all.

He is an afghan. Afghans hate Pakistan and have always hated Pakistan since its creation. We should always remember that when we talk about brotherhood and friendship with them.

 

[Nahraf]

Afghanistan after seeing the way they act and talk, I dont get why we go out of our way to please them in any way.

Pakistan has more common with Afghanistan than any other of its neighbors. That is why we have to have good relations with Afghanistan. ISI and Pakistan Army support of Talibans have a lot to do with younger generarion of Afghans having negative view of Pakistan.

 

[Dance]

Pakistan has more common with Afghanistan than any other of its neighbors. That is why we have to have good relations with Afghanistan. ISI and Pakistan Army support of Talibans have a lot to do with younger generarion of Afghans having negative view of Pakistan.

I disagree with that part. What about india?

 

[Nahraf]

I disagree with that part. What about india?

We have close religious and cultural ties with Afghanistan. We have very complicated relationship with India and if there is one incident then we will be on abyss of nuclear war.

 

[Dance]

We have close religious and cultural ties with Afghanistan. We have very complicated relationship with India and if there is one incident then we will be on abyss of nuclear war.

People in Khyber-P/FATA and maybe Balochistan may have more ties to afghanistan, but the rest of Pakistan really doesn't. Culturally I think most of Pakistan is more similar to india then afghanistan.

 

[Nahraf]

People in Khyber-P/FATA and maybe Balochistan may have more ties to afghanistan, but the rest of Pakistan really doesn't. Culturally I think most of Pakistan is more similar to india then afghanistan.

Really ! You should read more history. The Afghan people have settled all over Pakistan during last one thousand years. Many prominent families in Punjab have Pakhtun roots like Imran Khan. Nearly 30-40 percent of Muhajirs in Karachi are descendents of Afghans that settled in northern India during the Muslim rule.

 

[Dance]

Really ! You should read more history. The Afghan people have settled all over Pakistan during last one thousand years. Many prominent families in Punjab have Pakhtun roots like Imran Khan. Nearly 30-40 percent of Muhajirs in Karachi are descendents of Afghans that settled in northern India during the Muslim rule.

Yeah so? Just because there might be some people of have afghan ancestry doesn't mean we're totally similar to them. Punjabis have more in common with indian Punjabis, Sindhis with indian Sindhis, Urdu speaking people with india in general, Baloch's would have more in common with Iranian Baloch's and the Arabian gulf plus afghanistan too, etc. Pakistanis are mixture of different kinds of people. I'm not saying theres no similarity to them but that doesnt mean that we have more in common with them as compared to india and other countries. You may feel culturally similar to them but there are Pakistanis out there that don't

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

People in Khyber-P/FATA and maybe Balochistan may have more ties to afghanistan, but the rest of Pakistan really doesn't. Culturally I think most of Pakistan is more similar to india then afghanistan.

We have similarities to North Western India (Punjab etc.) but not all of India, and definitely not Eastern or Southern India.

I also think that it would be wrong to view Pakistani culture as being in stasis - Pakistani culture has evolved because of inter-provincial migration (mostly in urban areas), the decades of workers living and working in the Mid East, the impact of Western culture through the media etc.

I would argue that Pakistani culture is now uniquely Pakistani, as a result of all those influences and relative isolation from India. Yes, cultural threads common to territories in modern India, Afghanistan, Iran, Arabia etc. still run throughout our culture to varying degrees, but it is the amalgamation of all of them and our own evolution, good and bad, that makes us Pakistani and not a subset of India, Afghanistan or Arabia.

 

[Dance]

We have similarities to North Western India (Punjab etc.) but not all of India, and definitely not Eastern or Southern India.

I also think that it would be wrong to view Pakistani culture as being in stasis - Pakistani culture has evolved because of inter-provincial migration (mostly in urban areas), the decades of workers living and working in the Mid East, the impact of Western culture through the media etc.

I would argue that Pakistani culture is now uniquely Pakistani, as a result of all those influences and isolation from India. Yes, cultural threads common to territories in modern India, Afghanistan, Iran, Arabia etc. still run throughout our culture to varying degrees, but it is the amalgamation of all of them and our own evolution, good and bad, that makes us Pakistani and not a subset of India, Afghanistan or Arabia.

Yeah I agree with what you said, we have something in common with all our neighbors. We have our own cultural too and should be proud of it. But too say that we have more in common with afghanistan as compared to our other neighbors as Nahraf was saying, is not correct.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

But too say that we have more in common with afghanistan as compared to our other neighbors as Nahraf was saying, is not correct.

Yes, it would be very hard to quantify the amount of culture we share with X vs Y.

I think the answer in this case for many people lies in what aspect of culture takes precedence. For many religion takes primacy in the culture matrix, and for these individuals the fact that Afghanistan is Muslim and has a significant Pakhtun population, which Pakistan does as well, cements their belief in greater cultural commonality with Afghanistan rather than India.

But I really do think that it is something that cannot easily be quantified.

 

[Dance]

Yes, it would be very hard to quantify the amount of culture we share with X vs Y.

I think the answer in this case for many people lies in what aspect of culture takes precedence. For many religion takes primacy in the culture matrix, and for these individuals the fact that Afghanistan is Muslim and has a significant Pakhtun population, which Pakistan does as well, cements their belief in greater cultural commonality with Afghanistan rather than India.

But I really do think that it is something that cannot easily be quantified.

Well said and thats true about the bolded part. Everyone has their own different view about what they feel closer too and Pakistan being such a diverse country means that everyone has different cultures and cultural views. Personally, I've met afghans and I felt nothing similar between us culturally ( I'm Punjabi) or in anything in general besides religion.

 

[EjazR]

Really ! You should read more history. The Afghan people have settled all over Pakistan during last one thousand years. Many prominent families in Punjab have Pakhtun roots like Imran Khan. Nearly 30-40 percent of Muhajirs in Karachi are descendents of Afghans that settled in northern India during the Muslim rule.

Well there are many such Pashtoons in India as well, by some estimates between 15-20 million including Pashtu speaking although a smaller percentage.

Infact you will fine people of Central Asian origin like Uzbeks and Tajiks as well as people of Persian, Yemeni or other Arab origin as well.

India is probably one of the most if not the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world

 

[Bhim]

I would agree with Mr Dance, we are almost similar culturally. Here when we meet we don't talk of hatred or war, but of films , music, inviting one another to each others home, helping one another, in short we are the same community.

Its only on this forum we lick kicking one another..LOL

So in Afghanistan India will keep doing what it thinks best, no matter what others think, as Afghanis are our brothers just as every one else in the region.

 

[Desert Fox]

Well there are many such Pashtoons in India as well, by some estimates between 15-20 million including Pashtu speaking although a smaller percentage.

that is too exaggerated don't you think? in Pakistan there are 20-25 million Pashtuns (second largest ethnic group in Pakistan), in Afghanistan there are 12-14 million Pashtuns (largest Ethnic group in Afghanistan). Pakistan has the largest population of Pashtuns and more Pashtuns than Afghanistan!

India, i highly doubt india has 15-20 million Pashtuns!

Regions with significant populations
Pakistan 28 million (2005) [2][3]
Afghanistan 12 million (2009) [4]
UAE 315,524 (2008) [5]
United Kingdom 100,000 (2009) [6]
Canada 26,000 (2006) [7]
India 11,086 (2001) [8]
United States 7,710 (2000) [9]
Malaysia and Singapore 5,100 (2008) [10]

Pashtun people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The larger number of people claiming Pashtun ancestry in India are Urdu-speaking. Despite the loss of most of the Raj-era Pashtun population, India still has a large community of Urdu-speaking Muslims who trace their ancestry to Pashtun invaders and settlers. They are often referred by the Hindi-Urdu pronunciation of the word Pashtun, "Pathan". However, because Pashto fluency has been lost, and a large degree of intermarriage with Indian locals has occurred throughout the centuries, such Pathans are rarely regarded by Pashtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan as being truly Pashtun

Pashtun diaspora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia