Pakistani Balochistan joins Afghanistan rather than Pakistan

[Deleted member 109224]

I vaguely recall that some of the Baloch Princely States (especially the Khan of Kalat) considered going it alone or joining Afghanistan. What if they'd tried to do that? Afghanistan would have a coast here and Pakistan would be narrower.

 

[Linense]

I am not very focused on that issue (although if I remember correctly, Balochistan was part of the Afghan empire when the Durrani dynasty reigned), but if I read some time ago that during the Second World War there was an anti-British Pashtun guerrilla (I think it was led by a certain Faqir Ipi) that fought to integrate the Pashtun territories of British India in Afghanistan (which after the Pakistani provincial reorganization of a few years ago, it is called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).

 

[Deleted member 109224]

I am not very focused on that issue (although if I remember correctly, Balochistan was part of the Afghan empire when the Durrani dynasty reigned), but if I read some time ago that during the Second World War there was an anti-British Pashtun guerrilla (I think it was led by a certain Faqir Ipi) that fought to integrate the Pashtun territories of British India in Afghanistan (which after the Pakistani provincial reorganization of a few years ago, it is called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province).

IIRC, the Afghan Monarchy never accepted the Durand Line as the formal border with Pakistan. When the idea was floated to bring back the monarchy in the early 2000s, Pakistan shot the idea down for that reason.


Afghanistan annexing much of Balochistan might strengthen irridentist/nationalist ideas of 'Greater Afghanistan' including other mostly Balochi and mostly Pashto parts of Pakistan. I wonder if Afghanistan and India might work together to beat down Pakistan.

 

[mianfei]

I wonder if Afghanistan and India might work together to beat down Pakistan.

Although this is denied in Dave Holmes’ and Norm Dixon’s 2003 Behind the US War on Afghanistan, it has occurred to me that if Pakistani Baluchistan was part of Afghanistan, the USSR might have invested much more in trying to ally with and aid Kabul. Even before the Afghan monarchy was overthrown, there were strong ties with the USSR, in part because so many Central Asian ethnic groups lived on both sides of the border. The prospect of influence in the Middle East and South Asia would have given Moscow further incentive to involve in Afghanistan.

It is true that such a move might involve a stronger USSR alliance with India, but I do not view that as critical.

 

[Coiler]

It gives the Soviets a port on the Indian Ocean if the regime is friendly, which will have all sorts of butterflies.

 

[aaronupright]

1) No it won't give them a port. The parts of the modern province which are on the coast (Makran and Lasbela were separate princely states themselves or part of Oman and all joined Pakistan willingly and indeed thumbed their noses at the Khan of Kalat. The other major Princely State was Kaharan, which also joined, rather happily.
2) They get plastered by the British the Pakistani Military which has lots of British officers and enlisted serving in it. One of the things that Jinnah, Mountbatten and Nehru all agreed with was that the various Princely states could not be permitted to become independent no matter what. British Government policy was also that the military forces of the new states should be strong enough to withstand challenges from their neighbours who might be tempted to recapture territory lost to the Raj.