1955 in Afghanistan

Last updated

Flag of Afghanistan (1931-1973).svg
1955
in
Afghanistan
Decades:
See also: Other events of 1955
List of years in Afghanistan

The following lists events that happened during 1955 in Afghanistan .

Contents

Pakistan-Afghan relations remain marred by the continued support given by the Kabul government to the Pashtun (or Pakhtun) people of the former North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan in their demand for self-determination. The Kabul government does not recognize the 1893 Durand Line as the Afghan-Pakistani international frontier.

Incumbents

March 29, 1955

The prime minister broadcasts a speech over Kabul radio which amounts to open incitement of the Afghan people against Pakistan. This speech is followed in the course of the next two days by demonstrations in Kabul, Kandahar, and Jalalabad during which Pakistani missions are wrecked and looted and Pakistani flags are pulled down. The government of Pakistan is, therefore, compelled to close its diplomatic and consular missions and withdraw their staffs. A "general mobilization" of Afghan armed forces is ordered in Kabul at the beginning of May, in reply to which Gen. Mohammad Ayub Khan, Pakistani Minister of Defense and Commander-in-Chief, comments that if any inroads are made into Pakistan territory Afghanistan will be taught a lesson to be remembered for life. Attik Khan Rafik, Afghan minister to Karachi, is recalled to Kabul. Mikhail V. Degtyar, Soviet ambassador to Kabul, is reported to have promised Afghanistan "total military aid" in the event of Pakistani aggression. This acute tension results in offers of mediation by Islamic powers, but Gen. Iskandar Mirza, Pakistani Minister of the Interior, makes it clear that his country will maintain the Durand Line. On June 30, when opening the session of the Afghan National Assembly, King Zahir pledges his country's support for the idea of an autonomous Pashtunistan.

September 13, 1955

The Afghan foreign minister, Mohammad Naim Khan, rehoists the Pakistan flag on the Pakistani embassy in Kabul with full ceremonial honours and in the presence of Col. A. S. B. Shah, the Pakistani ambassador. Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, the Pakistani premier, says on September 15, in the Constituent Assembly, that relations between the two countries have taken a turn for the better. This improvement, however, does not continue for long. On September 30, the Pakistani Constituent Assembly passes a bill merging western Pakistan into a single province, and the Afghan government protests against this violation of the rights and wishes of the Pashtun people. Attik Khan Rafik is again recalled from Karachi (October).

Beginning of November 1955

A few thousand armed Afghan tribesmen enter Pakistan along a 160-km stretch of frontier about 480 km northeast of Quetta. A Pakistani army spokesman says that militarily there is no threat in the presence of these tribesmen. He adds, however, that there is evidence that this so-called invasion was inspired by Kabul with the moral and material support of the USSR and India. The Afghan ambassador to Cairo, Salaheddin Salgooky, declares that his country will seek Soviet or Czechoslovakian arms if the West fails to supply them.

December 18, 1955

During the visit to Kabul of Nikolai Bulganin, the Soviet premier, and Nikita Khrushchev, first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, a protocol is signed extending for ten years the Soviet-Afghan treaty of neutrality and nonaggression of 1931. On the same day it is announced that the USSR grants to Afghanistan a 30-year credit of $100,000,000 at an annual rate of interest of 2%.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">European influence in Afghanistan</span> Overview of the influence of European colonial powers in Afghanistan

European influence in Afghanistan has been present in the country since the Victorian era, when the competing imperial powers of Britain and Russia contested for control over Afghanistan as part of the Great Game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Zahir Shah</span> King of Afghanistan from 1933 to 1973

Mohammad Zahir Shah was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Ruling for 40 years, Zahir Shah was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan since the foundation of the Durrani Empire in the 18th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Daoud Khan</span> Afghan prime minister (1953–1963) and president (1973–1978)

Mohammad Daoud Khan was an Afghan military officer and politician who served as prime minister of Afghanistan from 1953 to 1963 and, as leader of the 1973 Afghan coup d'état which overthrew the monarchy, served as the first president of Afghanistan from 1973 until his assassination in the Saur Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pashtunistan</span> Geographic region historically inhabited by the Pashtun people

Pashtunistan is a historical region in South Asia, located on the Iranian Plateau, inhabited by the Pashtun people of southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, wherein Pashtun culture, the Pashto language, and identity have been based. Alternative names historically used for the region include Pashtūnkhwā (پښتونخوا), Pakhtūnistān, Pathānistān, or simply the Pashtun Belt.

The following lists events that happened during 1961 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1956 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1933 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1949 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1952 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1953 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1954 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1957 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1958 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1959 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1960 in the Kingdom of Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1963 in Afghanistan.

The following lists events that happened during 1964 in Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afghanistan–Pakistan relations</span> Bilateral relations

Afghanistan–Pakistan relations refer to the bilateral ties between Afghanistan and Pakistan. In August 1947, the partition of British India led to the emergence of Pakistan along Afghanistan's eastern frontier, and the two countries have since had a strained relationship; Afghanistan was the sole country to vote against Pakistan's admission into the United Nations following the latter's independence. Territorial disputes along the widely known "Durand Line" and conflicting claims prevented the normalization of bilateral ties between the countries throughout the mid-20th century. Various Afghan government officials and Afghan nationalists have made irredentist claims to large swathes of Pakistan's territory in modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistani Balochistan, which complete the traditional homeland of "Pashtunistan" for the Pashtun people. Afghan territorial claims over Pashtun-majority areas that are in Pakistan were coupled with discontent over the permanency of the Durand Line which has long been considered the international border by every nation other than Afghanistan, and for which Afghanistan demanded a renegotiation, with the aim of having it shifted eastward to the Indus River. During the Taliban insurgency, the Taliban has received substantial financial and logistical backing from Pakistan, which remains a significant source of support. Nonetheless, Pakistan's support for the Taliban is not without risks, as it involves playing a precarious and delicate game. Further Afghanistan–Pakistan tensions have arisen concerning a variety of issues, including the Afghan conflict and Afghan refugees in Pakistan, water-sharing rights, and a continuously warming relationship between Afghanistan and India, but most of all the Taliban government in Afghanistan providing sanctuary and safe havens to Pakistani Taliban terrorists to attack Pakistani territory. Border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have escalated to an unprecedented degree following recent instances of violence along the border. The Durand Line witnesses frequent occurrences of suicide bombings, airstrikes, or street battles on an almost daily basis. The Taliban-led Afghan government has also accused Pakistan of undermining relations between Afghanistan and China and creating discord between the neighbouring countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Afghanistan</span> Monarchy in Central Asia from 1926 to 1973

The Kingdom of Afghanistan was a monarchy in Central Asia that was established in 1926 as a successor state to the Emirate of Afghanistan. It was proclaimed by its first king, Amanullah Khan, seven years after he acceded to the throne. The monarchy ended in the 1973 Afghan coup d'état.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammad Nadir Shah</span> King of Afghanistan from 1929 to 1933

Mohammad Nadir Shah was King of Afghanistan from 15 October 1929 until his assassination in November 1933. Previously, he served as Minister of War, Afghan Ambassador to France, and as a general in the Royal Afghan Army. He and his son Mohammad Zahir Shah, who succeeded him, are part of the Musahiban.