Pashtuns May Demand Own State Islamabad fears that unless America helps to secure a broad-based government
in Afghanistan, Pashtuns will side with their ethnic kin in northern Pakistan
and revive calls for their own state. The Northern Alliance, although supported by a small Pashtun faction, is wary
of a government comprising representatives of the majority Pashtuns whom they
regard as supporters of the Taleban. The Afghan Pashtuns, in turn, will not accept being ruled by a coalition of
minority ethnic groups. more
America's critics in the Pakistani government say they don't like U.S.
nation building when it comes to their territory bordering Afghanistan.
Some Pakistanis see Washington's dark influence behind new
agitation for the
creation of "Pashtunistan" -- an attempt to unite the Pashtun tribes divided by
the Afghan-Pakistani frontier.more
Pashtunistan (or Pakhtunistan) is the
Pashtun
-dominated area of
Afghanistan
and
Pakistan
. The Pakistani (and formerly
British Indian
) part comprises an area from Chitral
(in the north of Pakistan) to Sibi (in
the southwest). This area in Pakistan is referred
to as the
North-West Frontier Province
(NWFP) but is also known as
Afghania (indicating their ethnic likeness with the Afghanistani
Pashtuns). more
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