International interventions and Afghanistan-Pakistan relationsForeign intervention in the Afghanistan and Pakistan region is nothing new. During the 19th Century, present-day Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan were proxy war zones for the competing British and Tsarist colonial empires, and later between the Soviet and US blocks during the Cold War. This interference inflamed the Pakistani-Afghan territorial dispute. While Afghanistan became increasingly reliant on the USSR for military aid, Pakistan became a key US ally. Iranian mediation ended the conflict and a settled the border issue in 1963, although this dramatic improvement in Afghan-Pakistani relations was to last only a decade [Siddiqui 2008: 10-18]. Pakistan and Afghanistan have consistently offered refuge, funding and support to dissidents, with Afghan support for Pashtun and Baluch separatism in Pakistan, and Pakistani support for the Taliban opposition to the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. Zias military regime pushed a policy of state-driven Islamisation and supported Jihadist groups involved in the US-supported war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. During Zias rule, Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan generated an opium and small arms-based war economy inside Pakistan, especially in the Tribal Areas, profiting members of the army, local warlords and mujahideen alike.In 1981 the Reagan Administration issued $3.2 billion for Pakistan. The aid package was increased to $4.02 billion in 1987, which was a mix of military aid worth $1.7 billion. Pakistans current involvement alongside the US and NATO in the Afghanistan war bears a deep and complex relationship with Pakistans former support for the Afghan mujahideen. Pro-Taliban militant have been active in Indian-held Kashmir and inside Pakistan, turning their violence against the government and segments of the population. Since 2001, the war in Afghanistan has been spilling over into Pakistan in complex ways and with disastrous consequences. Political and economic factors interact with tribal, ethnic, religious and political identity groups, bringing violent conflict into the heart of the country.