The Afghan government closely scrutinized the events that attended the establishment in 1947 of India and Pakistan as independent states. Of particular concern was the incorporation into Pakistan of the North-West Frontier Province Tribal Areas, a neighbouring region largely populated by Pashtuns. Pakistan ignored Afghan demands for a plebiscite in the Tribal Areas on the question of self-determination. In retaliation, in 1947 Afghanistan voted against the admission of Pakistan to the UN. Relations between the two countries continued to be strained during the next several years. Sporadic frontier clashes occurred between Pakistani forces and Pashtun tribesmen, especially after 1949, when the latter, with the approval of the Afghan government, launched a movement to establish an independent state to be called Pashtunistan or Pathanistan.
Afghanistan manifested displeasure over a United States-Pakistan military aid pact concluded in 1954. The following year, Soviet Premier Nikolay A. Bulganin, visiting Afghanistan, proclaimed support for a state of Pashtunistan. Subsequently, the USSR and Afghanistan issued a joint statement advocating peaceful coexistence, universal disarmament, and UN membership for China. The Soviet government simultaneously extended technical aid loans to Afghanistan.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan improved briefly during the late 1950s. In 1961, however, the Pashtunistan dispute flared up, and relations were not fully restored until 1967.