# Pashtun Protests Reflect Pakistan’s Tensions with U.S., Afghanistan 

If the Pakistani government fails to address Pashtun concerns, it spells trouble for the U.S. and any political agreement to end the war in Afghanistan. 

April 16, 2018 • Commentary 

By [Sahar Khan](https://www.cato.org/people/sahar-khan) 

This article appeared in the *[Axios](https://www.axios.com)* on April 16, 2018. 

In [a protest](https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2018/04/07/598045758/caught-between-the-military-and-militants-pakistans-pashtuns-fight-for-rights) led by the [Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement](https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/new-nationalist-movement-emerges-from-Pakistan--pashtun-protests/29159389.html), [thousands gathered in Peshawar](https://www.dawn.com/news/1400349), Pakistan, last Sunday to demand the release of missing persons and basic human rights for Pakistan’s Pashtun ethnic minority. The protest is part of the Pashtun Long March, a domestic [non-violent](https://thediplomat.com/2018/02/the-pashtun-long-march-reviving-the-nonviolent-creed-of-bacha-khan/) [movement](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/04/manzoor-pashteen-protest-violent-constitutional-180409083747159.html), which began in January 2018 after the [extrajudicial killing of a Pashtun falsely accused of terrorism](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/police-killing-naqeebullah-mehsud-angers-pakistanis-180119081758397.html).

If the Pakistani government fails to address Pashtun concerns, it spells trouble for the U.S. and any political agreement to end the war in Afghanistan.

**Why it matters:** Pakistan’s partnership with the U.S. in fighting terrorism has incurred severe domestic costs, especially for Pakistani Pashtuns, straining its already-fraught relationships with both Pashtun-majority Afghanistan and the U.S.

**The background:** Since 2008, Pakistan has been waging two wars simultaneously: a war in Afghanistan with U.S. and allied forces, and a domestic counterinsurgency campaign. Pakistan has launched [counterinsurgency operations](https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2010/RAND_MG982.pdf) in [every agency](https://ctc.usma.edu/app/uploads/2010/06/Vol2Iss3-Art3.pdf) of the [Federally Administered Tribal Areas](https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/pakistan/2017-10-06/how-war-altered-pakistans-tribal-areas), including strikes that have killed [3500 militants](https://tribune.com.pk/story/1123356/1-dg-ispr-addresses-press-conference-afghanistan-pakistan-border-clashes/). These campaigns have led to an exponential growth of “[enforced](https://www.dawn.com/news/1377235/short-term-disappearances) [disappearances](https://www.icj.org/pakistan-widespread-practice-of-enforced-disappearance-must-be-addressed/),” [extrajudicial killings](https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/pakistan) and [ethnic profiling](https://thediplomat.com/2017/03/pakistans-pashtun-profiling/) of Pashtuns.

In the wake of those atrocities, the Long March has become a culmination of the Pashtun community’s grievances against the Pakistani state. The March, however, is [Pakistan’s chance ](https://thediplomat.com/2018/04/the-pashtun-nationalist-movement-can-save-pakistan/)to right its domestic wrongs and improve political stability.

**The bottom line:** If the Pakistani government fails to address Pashtun concerns, it spells trouble for the U.S. and any political agreement to end the war in Afghanistan. Pakistani inaction will not only risk further weakening of its relationship with Afghanistan, but will also further reduce its already waning leverage on the Taliban to accept President Ashraf Ghani’s [peace deal](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-taliban/afghanistans-ghani-offers-talks-with-taliban-without-preconditions-idUSKCN1GC0J0).

##### About the Author 

[![Media Name: khan-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/khan-cropped.jpg?itok=ZEbN5p0Y)](/people/sahar-khan) 

##### [Sahar Khan](/people/sahar-khan)

Former Research Fellow, Cato Institute

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