Thank you.
In 1973, Mohammad Daoud overthrew the King of Afghanistan, declared support for Pakistan's separatists and triggered a series of internal coups d'état. The Pakistani Prime Minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, responded by reaching out to Afghan decision-makers, including the Muslim Youth organization at Kabul University, giving them refuge, money and weapons training.
A revolt sponsored by Pakistan and led by Faizani failed in 1974 and 1975. The failure of agricultural reforms accelerated Pakistani assistance to insurgents, resulting in a massacre of Soviet military advisers and Soviet intervention in late 1979.
The war in Afghanistan was set off by Pakistan, not the Soviet Union or the CIA, contrary to what Hollywood movies and conventional wisdom online claim. I have had countless public disagreements with U.S. and Canadian intelligence officials about that very thing.
Although Pakistan is not capable of influencing the government in Kabul, whatever it may be, Pakistan remains one of the main actors in the mess that is Afghanistan's economy. Until Pakistan is treated as a partner, any investment in Afghanistan's development will be wasted, like every penny spent over the past half-century.
Pakistan is simply asking for a return to the normalcy that prevailed from 1963 to 1973.
Thank you.