U.S. Preparing the Pakhtun Card?

Here is a rambling piece of propaganda masquerading as journalism without any solid premise or substance - but what would you expect of Radio Free Europe - a media outlet funded for a long time by the CIA and then the State Department?

The piece starts off with "Pashtuns straddling the Pakistani-Afghan border", but quickly deserts the Afghan Pashtuns and degenerates into Pakistan bashing. Interestingly, it does not criticize the U.S.-backed "negotiations between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban" - but roundly mauls Pakistan's push for "a greater voice for Afghanistan's Pashtuns".

All in all, the intent of the piece is totally in line with the U.S. policy priority of putting pressure on Pakistan for the real or perceived ills of the country's policies towards Afghanistan - and the strategy of stacking the Pashtuns against the government.

The article concludes:

"Now everyone is discussing reports of peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban. Much to the bewilderment of Pakistan's Pashtuns, the government in Pakistan has been urging a greater voice for Afghanistan's Pashtuns vis-a-vis the country's ethnic Uzbeks and Tajiks. And Pakistan's Pashtuns watch, wait, and wonder what will become of them if the Taliban returns to power in Kabul."

If one may ask, how will a greater voice for the Afghan Pashtuns in the affairs of that country hurt Pakistani Pashtuns? Why is the U.S.-backed Afghan initiative to include Pashtuns good, but Pakistan's long-standing support for that cause bad?