So two potential PoDs. First is that the British annex Afghanistan into the British Raj (would need some way to butterfly away the Great Game and Afghanistan's status as a buffer). Both Russia and Britain certainly had the ability to conquer Afghanistan. And once independence comes around Afghanistan is rolled into the concept of a homeland for the Muslims of Northwest British India. The entire country would perhaps be called Pakistan in such a scenario.
Second PoD is in the 1950s when there were suggestions of a Pakistan-Afghanistan Union as an anti-Communist bulwark that would be headed by King Zahir Shah as a constitutional monarch. But this proposal was rejected by the Pakistani side and the rest is history. The former scenario seems more likely to me as the latter scenario seems more fragile.
But leaving aside the PoD, that is less important, I don't want discussion on whether it could happen or not, I want to focus this discussion on what such a union would look like. What would the politics and society look like if Pakistan and Afghanistan were one county. Pashtuns would number 60 Million in today's numbers compared to 90 Million Punjabis (or 65 Million if you subtract Seraikis and Hindkowans). Pashtuns definitely could be as dominant as Punjabis would be in this country. I can imagine Islamabad being constructed next to Peshawar instead of Rawalpindi as a more central location for a capital. Perhaps Farsi would be the official language or co-official with Urdu. After all Farsi has been the lingua franca of this region for centuries before the British came (even used by the Sikh Empire).
Second PoD is in the 1950s when there were suggestions of a Pakistan-Afghanistan Union as an anti-Communist bulwark that would be headed by King Zahir Shah as a constitutional monarch. But this proposal was rejected by the Pakistani side and the rest is history. The former scenario seems more likely to me as the latter scenario seems more fragile.
But leaving aside the PoD, that is less important, I don't want discussion on whether it could happen or not, I want to focus this discussion on what such a union would look like. What would the politics and society look like if Pakistan and Afghanistan were one county. Pashtuns would number 60 Million in today's numbers compared to 90 Million Punjabis (or 65 Million if you subtract Seraikis and Hindkowans). Pashtuns definitely could be as dominant as Punjabis would be in this country. I can imagine Islamabad being constructed next to Peshawar instead of Rawalpindi as a more central location for a capital. Perhaps Farsi would be the official language or co-official with Urdu. After all Farsi has been the lingua franca of this region for centuries before the British came (even used by the Sikh Empire).