KARACHI: The Afghans ruling Kabul are now asking the US to renegotiate the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and some Afghan officials have already issued a new map that shows major Pakistani cities of Peshawar and Quetta as part of Afghanistan.

Faced with the uphill task of curtailing extremist elements in South and Central Asia, such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban, the United States appears to be leaning towards a policy of promoting instability in the region, with the biggest loser in such a game likely to be Pakistan, even though it is Washington's stated premier ally in the "war on terror".

Reports emerging from Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP)and Balochistan suggest a revival of Pashtun nationalist activity over the sensitive issue of the Durand Line, which demarcates the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, at a time when military operations continue in the Pakistani tribal belt, much to the annoyance of the local tribals towards the Pakistan army and the establishment.

A coalition of six fundamentalist, pro-Taliban and pro-Osama bin Laden parties under the umbrella of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) came to power in NWFP in last October's general elections, and the MMA is a part of the ruling coalition in Balochistan.

Many in the present Afghan government believe that the agreement reached between Afghan king Abdur Rahman Khan and British colonial official Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893 that defined the Durand Line was for 100 years only, and expired in 1993. The Afghans are now asking the US to renegotiate the border, and some Afghan officials have already issued a new map that shows such major Pakistani cities as Peshawar and Quetta in Afghanistan.

Asia Times Online sources close to Pakistan strategic circles report that there has been recent contact between Afghan leader Hamid Karzai and Pashtun leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan, much to the alarm of the Pakistani hierarchy, which is convinced that the meeting took place at the instigation of the US.

Khan's Awami National Party, which is traditionally anti-establishment, was wiped out in the last elections. His father, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, opposed the partition of British India in 1947, and because of his close association with Mahatma Gandhi he was called Sarhadi Gandhi (NWFP is called Sarhad in Urdu and Hindi). Like his father, Wali Khan has close ties with India and Afghanistan. After the former USSR invaded Afghanistan in the 1980s, Wali Khan coined the concept of "Pashtunistan" and called for a "red revolution" in Pakistan to welcome Soviet forces to help in the unification of Pashtun lands on both sides of the Durand Line.

The meeting between Wali Khan and Hamid took place against the backdrop of an organized campaign in the shape of seminars and public gatherings in NWFP and Balochistan designed ignite debate over the issue of "Pashtunistan", and with clear US patronage. Afghan delegations from Europe and America have visited Peshawar and Quetta, where they spoke openly of the Durand Line issue, and urged Pashtuns to unite and claim their rights.

They said that the Durand Line had not only affected the history of Pashtuns, but had also changed their social and economic conditions. Germany-based Afghan Makhan Shinwari said that the Durand Line was the result of a conspiracy aimed at breaking Pashtun power. Such talk has not been heard in the volatile region for many years.

The Soviets last played this card during their occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s in an attempt to destabilize the country. But after the collapse of the USSR and the communist government in Afghanistan, nationalist factions dropped the issue and joined hands with right wing parties like the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) for the first time in the history of Pakistan, if only to show that the demand for a Pashtun land had never been indigenous, but always instigated by foreigners.

But now, with the Pakistani military intervention in the tribal belt, and the complete silence of the MMA, nationalist elements are furthering their move for a greater Pashtun territory from Kabul to Peshawar and Quetta.

This development has broader implications. An immediate one could be a revival in the movement for a greater Balochistan. Ethnically, Baloch areas exist in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Pakistani Balochistan is known as the "Third International" as it is the most important segment of the Baloch regions and could play an important role as a catalyst for revolution in Afghanistan and Iran.

For this reason, the former USSR invested a lot of resources in making Balochistan a breeding point of nationalism and socialism. These anti-establishment trends were then exported to Iranian Balochistan.

Inflammatory issues such as Pashtunistan and "Greater Balochistan" have the potential to slice the existing power bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Iranian Balochis, for example, are culturally and religiously (being Sunnis) as well as politically (liberal) totally different from the majority of Shi'ite Iran.

A Pashtun nationalist revival could also stir a counter revival movement in northern Afghanistan in the ethnically Tajik and Uzbek areas, leading to the country's Balkanization.

And further afield, who knows what other indigenous movements could be awoken - from a "Greater" Kashmir - which is already simmering - to a "Greater" Punjab.

This is long term though. The immediate result of raising the Pashtunistan issue is instability in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, which is already in deep turmoil, and help for the US in enhancing its influence in the region.