1. I don't have the references handy but it was reported that a officer from ANSF attended the staff college at Quetta recently (you'll remember Gen Bismillah Khan's visit to Pakistan a year or two ago -- it happened shortly after that) -- but on his return to Afghanistan he recommended that students be sent to India instead of Pakistan.
2. Similarly it was reported that Afghan officers don't want to come to Pakistan for they will be labelled as spies and it will negatively affect their carrier.
3. I don't know if it still is a rule but in the 50s through the 80s, if an Afghan officer or diplomat had a Pakistani spouse they were essentially sidelined or dismissed from service -- so this hostility to "Pakiness" (as referred to by Afghans) is deep seated and is not going away anytime.
4. It is also worth noting, that Afghanistan could probably get much superior training than Indian academies at say Turkish Harp Okuls, which would not raise any heckles in Pakistan -- but instead they seem to be fixated on Indian offerings -- the question is why? -- I have not been able to formulate an answer (but I guess Afghan thinking is often opaque to even Afghans themselves).
5. Pakistanis should remember that a lot of the people who are the most anti-Pakistan in Afghanistan were educated in Pakistan or supported by Pakistan at some point, specific examples:
a. Ahmad Shah Masood
b. Sibghatullah Mojaddedi
c. Amrullah Saleh (yes even him -- he fled to Pakistan to avoid being conscripted)
d. Hamid Karzai (he lived in both Peshawar and Quetta and Islamabad
-- he recently complained to Mushahid Hussain that the green zones in Islamabad
-- have been reduced where he used to enjoy evening walks
e. There is a long list of intellectuals who fit here.
6. I think the aversion to Pakistani things is very deep in Afghan culture -- there is a blog post by his excellency Zahir Tarin, Afghanistan permanent representative to the UN (which I think he's taken down now -- I could not find it) where he recounts a story about his grandfather telling him not to buy anything made in Pakistan (which he then ties to his reasoning about Pakistan -- really strange thinking for a Diplomat but it was there).
7. Pakistanis should think of Afghans as the Afghans want to be thought of by Pakistanis -- just as another people (so say as Slovenians) -- Pakistanis make the mistake of viewing Afghanistan and Afghans through the lens of family. Though this lens is appropriate for most of the larger Muslim world such as: Turkey, Iran, KSA, UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bosnia, etc. -- it, for some reason is the incorrect lens to understand Afghans. Yes based on proximity, language, culture, religion, dress, etc. Afghans should be indistinguishable from us Pakistanis but for some odd reason this is not the case. As anecdote: I was listening to a talk by his excellency Shaida Abdali (Afghan Ambassador to India) and it occurred to me that if he was sighted at a CSP officer's desk in Lahore he would not for a second be out of place -- however as they say: looks can be deceiving.,
8. If past is precedent, Nawaz Sharif will be disappointed.
Turkish academies better than Indian Academies
