ABSTRACT
In June 1949 a Pakistani plane bombed the town of Moghulgai inside Afghanistan. Afghanistan promoted separatist sentiments among Pushtun (Pathan) tribesmen within Pakistan after the British withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in 1947. In mid-March 1979 Afghan soldiers fired artillery shells upon a refugee camp immediately across the Pakistan border. Resistance groups controlling a majority of the Afghan countryside formed the Islamic Alliance of Afghan Holy Warriors in May 1985. The Soviet Union had long shown interest in Afghanistan. During the nineteenth century Russia and the United Kingdom, which then ruled India, competed for allegiance among Afghan tribal and other leaders. The Soviet Union initiated a military assistance program after the fall of the monarchy in 1973. Khalq's rise to power in 1978 facilitated closer Soviet-Afghan relations and increased aid. The two states signed a friendship and cooperation treaty in December 1978.
