“A nation that forgets its heroes will itself soon be forgotten.” Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States

Forget heroes & martyrs, here Pakistan has forgotten an entire conflict which stretched on for more than a year & consisted of two major skirmishes. I Am talking about the forgotten Invasions of Bajaur in in 1960 & 61 by Afghanistan

Prelude

Relations between the two states were strained since Pakistan’s formation. Afghanistan voted against Pakistan inclusion in the UNO & refused to respect the sovereignty of the new republic. But these things were not considered to be serious issues by Pakistani leaders back then. They ignored the frustration that was rocketing in Kabul. In 1953 Sardar Daud Khan became Prime minister of Afghanistan. He was the first cousin of Mohammed Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan.

He brought with him a staunch sub nationalistic policy. Daud wanted Pashtun majority of areas for Afghanistan but this would have meant taking a considerable amount of territory from the new nation of Pakistan. In this decade of Daud, the Pashtunistan propaganda was fierce. From radio shows to stamps to flags to anthems to squared being name after Pashtunistan. This not only irked Pakistan but also made non Pashtuns of Afghanistan nervous because it would have increased the Pashtun’s disproportionate hold on political power in Afghanistan. in a way Daud knew it too that Pashtuns didn’t possess a clear majority to hold onto Kabul forever, & thus since Daud, so called ‘Lar o Bar Afghan’ have been propped up by Afghan Pashtun nationalists for it is their only refuge. This is one of the reason there hasn’t been an ethnic census in Afghanistan since 1979, in which too violence ran amok.

Within two years of Daud rule, in March 1955, Afghans attacked Pakistani missions in across Afghanistan. A mob in Kabul tore down the Sabz Hilali Parcham from Pakistan’s embassy & desecrated it. Pakistan consulates in Kandahar & Jalalabad were ransacked.

Fighting fire with fire, Peshawaris attacked Afghan consulate in Peshawar. Daud refused to take this hint.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off in 1955 & were not resumed until September 1957. The Afghan King visited Karachi in February 1958, and an agreement on the improvement of transit facilities was signed three months later.

However in late 1959 relations again hit a brick wall when Zahir shah & Sardar Daud gave speeches in which they reaffirmed Afghanistan’s support for the establishment of so called “Pashtunistan”.

By Nov. 23, 1959, things became very fluid. Pakistan recorded protest against unauthorized flights over Pakistani territory by aircraft believed to have come from bases in Afghanistan.

The military balance of power wasn’t like today. In 1960, the Royal Afghan Air Force consisted of about 100 combat air crafts including the famed Russian MiG-15 fighters compared to ~150 Pakistan combat fighters (1965 figure). Other than that RAAF also had Il-28 light bombers, transports, and a few helicopters. Afghan pilots were being trained in US, soviet union & India. Today PAF has 450 combat aircrafts, while the AAF has less than 30 combat aircraft, that too A29 Super Tucanos, a light attack propeller aircraft designed for counter-insurgency. Apart from air force, Pakistan has developed a wide variety of conventional & nuclear tipped missiles which cover far greater area than Afghanistan. Today most of Pakistan fleet is stationed against India but Northern Air Command (Peshawar) has the capability to do more just tackle AAF on its own now. In 1960 entire AAF was pointed at us & the few jets Pakistan had stationed in Peshawar were nowhere enough to combat the AAF on its own.

After the partition of British India in 1947, Bajaur, along with the neighboring princely states of Dir and Swat, entered into a loose accession arrangement with Pakistan but remained practically independent. Nawab Abdul Subhan Khan, Nawab of Khar (Bajaur Agency) continued to rule Bajaur almost autonomously.

As the relations kept spiraling out of control, Afghan Government soon refused to renew visas for Pakistanis living in Afghanistan

The First Afghan Invasion

Than came the night if September 23-24, 1960. Afghan irregulars (Afghan army troops in plain clothes according to some sources) crossed into Pakistan. Their aim was to instigate the populace against Pakistan & those allied to it ( like Nawab of khar) for independent Pashtunistan. Which Kabul knew would not survive as a separate state & would have to merge in Afghanistan. This Afghan ploy failed to lure the Bajauri Pashtun tribesmen into switching their allegiance in favor of Kabul.

Seeing this failure, Afghan irregulars who were now spread across Bajaur initiated sporadic attacks on forces belonging to Nawab of Khar who fought valiantly in defense of their villages & towns. About A week after intial infiltration, Kabul Radio denied presence of Afghan militias inside bajaur & termed the fighting as “Pashtuns fighting Pakistan army”. Sporadic clashed kept on for several month. Afghanistan was now trying to depose the Nawab & install someone who would break with Pakistan.

In addition to the Afghan irregulars, Afghanistan also concentrated some 70,000 reserve troops to Kunar province which borders Bajaur.

As Casualties were mounting on both sides, Nawab of Khar was forced to request assistance from the Pakistani Army. Pakistan raised a new light infantry paramilitary unit under Frontier Corps named Bajour scouts. It was recruited locally in Bajaur and officered by regular Pakistan Army officers. Few border posts (mostly to house the new unit) at the border were also built & clearing operation was started with help of PAF.

In Early march of 1961, Pakistan Airforce conducted a bombing raid at Afghan border on HQ of Badshah Gul, one of the commander of Afghan irregulars.

The 2nd Afghan Invasion

Daud was now getting frustrated & growing desperate. His Pashtunistan attempt had failed. Pashtuns had decided to remain with Pakistan. His insurgent tactics had failed. Pakistan which didn’t exist only 14 years ago was growing too powerful for Afghanistan & too fast. And that was not his biggest fear. It was the rapid Pashtun assimilation into the Pakistani state. He witnessed it first hand when tribals sent his irregulars packing. And to top it off, The president of Pakistan back then was General Ayub Khan, an ethnic Pashtun.

Daud knew that if Kabul ever had any chance of militarily engineering a pro Afghan Pashtunistan in FATA, it was now. He Sent in his troops to try the same thing his irregulars failed to do.

Afghan troops conducted a three pronged attack on the night of May 19 – 20. Their aim was to capture Bajaur & converge in Malakand.

Afghan Army attacks were met by newly formed Bajaur scouts at Pakistan border posts near Miskinai and Sangpura which had been established to counter cross border infiltration. The Pakistani tribals pitched in too. Some Afghan troops managed to sneak using the cover of night but their advance was reversed come daylight.

The very next day on May 21, Pakistan Airforce f-86 sabres bombed the Afghan army positions & destroyed the machine gun & mortar nests in Kunar that were used to target Pakistani posts. PAF bombed Baganandail & also targeted the Afghan intruders across Bajaur & Dir & those near the Khyber pass. Losses had occurred on both sides but more so on Afghan side.

Daud’s 2nd attempt failed more miserably than his first. Never again did Afghanistan tried invading Pakistan.

Minor skirmishes kept on breaking-out on the border through out 1961 as Frontier Corps kept establishing more border posts in the area.

Afghanistan and Pakistan formally severed diplomatic relations in august 1961. These broken relations had acute economic consequences for both countries, particularly for landlocked Afghanistan. The shah of Iran helped to mediate a détente between the two neighbors in 1963.

The resulting peace lasted about a decade, until Mohammed Daoud Khan (who served as Afghanistan’s prime minister during the 1953-63 crisis) deposed his cousin, King Mohammed Zahir Shah, on July 17, 1973. President Daud shunned the policy of invasion & embraced the policy if insurgency. Since 1974 till date Afghanistan has been backing different kinds of insurgents in Balochistan & FATA/KPK. Pakistan under Bhutto started to return the favor by recruiting Haqqani & Ahmad Shah Massoud. But that is a story for another time.

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The subconscious omission of this conflict by most of us Pakistanis might be explained by the fact that almost all of our journalists & leftist “intellectuals”, never write about pre 1979 Af-Pak history when discussing the topic or in their articles. Tens of thousands of of columns have been published in newspapers & online, you will be lucky to find five on 1947-1979 Af-Pak period in detail. The reason for their ‘negligence’ is that they have their own agenda of dumping all the blamed on Pakistan for 1974-79 is the period Pakistan started replying tit with tat.

But they aren’t the only one responsible for this oversight either, after all educating the masses in our history is government’s job. But we live in a country where we still call countries, who refuse to accept our existence, “Bradar islami mulk”. A notion still persists that somehow Afghans are 2 year old children, misguided by Indians & without Indian influence in Kabul, all will be rosy. This false ummah narrative has caused the system to omit this invasion, & with it the the heroes who sacrificed their lives, property & limbs.

Professor Louis Dupree in his book Afghanistan writes “During the peak period of intense Anti-Pakistan propaganda, I kept casualty figures for eighteen months, & a minimum of a battalion of Pakistani soldiers were reported killed in action. A day seldom passed without an attack being reported. The Afghan reports were obviously exaggerated, but some casualties did occur, as admitted in published, official statements of Pakistan government”

Dupree was scholar of Afghan culture and history. His wife, Nancy Dupree was the Board Director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University in Afghanistan and author of five books about Afghanistan. The husband and wife team from the United States worked together for 15 years in Kabul. The reports Louis mentions in his book are Afghan claims which he recorded while living in Kabul.

Generally a battalion consists of atleast 300 soldiers. That would mean the casualties almost equaled those suffered in Kargil. Even if we naturally reject the “minimum of a battalion” claim on the grounds that it was Afghan propaganda, considering the casualties suffered by Pakistan tribals, no one can deny hundreds of Pakistan soldiers of Frontier Corps (Bajaur scouts) & Pashtun tribals died defending their homeland & have shed their blood in the mud in defense of the Pakistan.

Today not one is remembered in mainstream media. Not one is mentioned in any school text book.

Today if you ask any Pakistani about it, forget an answer, They will either be surprised that this conflict even happened or refuse to believe until you show them the evidence. This is the travesty done to history by our governments & out media & ‘intellectuals’.

But, as a Pakistani Nationalist, I thank the heroes of Bajaur, their sacrifice & memory will always live in my heart.

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