New Delhi: The recent conflict with Afghanistan has started an unusual debate in Pakistan. They are now debating the names given to their weapon systems. Pakistan’s nuclear warheads are named after medieval Afghan rulers Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori and 18th-century Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali.
With tensions running high between the two neighbours, politicians and journalists are debating whether the names are justified. Prominent Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir even went to the extent of asking a former MP, on live TV, if the ministers would discuss renaming the missiles.
Many also shared an older clip of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday during a live interview, asking why Pakistan’s nuclear warheads carried names of Afghan rulers.
“Mahmud Ghaznavi was a looter from Afghanistan. We made him a hero, but I reject him”, he said during the interview.
Pakistanis are embarrassed, and the Afghans are enraged. “Pakistan defense minister should show maturity instead of giving such war mongering narratives in future he might be sitting in a grand jirgah,” Pakistani X user Syed Zargh wrote.
Angry Afghans are now calling Pakistan ‘a beggar’ for using names of their rulers. Another Afghan X user, Qais, wrote that the defence minister’s claim ‘is a disgrace to history.’ He was referring to the old clip of the Pakistani defence minister that has resurfaced.
“Ghaznavi was a visionary conqueror whose campaigns shaped nations and left an enduring legacy. Reducing him to a petty caricature exposes the speaker’s ignorance, not the hero’s deeds,” he added.
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Pakistan’s nuclear names and anti-India sentiments
Pakistan’s missiles often bear the names of medieval conquerors who invaded then undivided India. The Ghaznavi (Hatf-III) missile honours Mahmud of Ghazni, the 11th-century Turkic ruler who, according to legend, invaded India 17 times and destroyed the famed Somnath temple. The Ghauri series recalls Muhammad of Ghor, whose victory in the Second Battle of Tarain (1192) paved the way for the Delhi Sultanate.
Another missile, Babur (Hatf-VII), named after the founder of the Mughal Empire, and Alamgir—the name of a Pakistani Navy frigate inspired by Emperor Aurangzeb—continue the theme. Aurangzeb was known for his alleged religious orthodoxy and destruction of Hindu temples, including Kashi Vishwanath and Krishna Janmabhoomi.
Even a Sindh port bears the name of Muhammad bin Qasim, the 8th-century Arab general who conquered the region and established the first Muslim foothold in the subcontinent.
In May, when Pakistan tested its Abdali Weapon System—a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a claimed range of 450 kilometres—the launch drew immediate attention not just for its timing, but for its name. The missile, also known as Hatf-II, is named after Ahmad Shah Abdali, the 18th-century Afghan king who led a series of invasions into the Indian subcontinent. Abdali launched several of his campaigns from Afghan territory into regions that now form modern-day Pakistan.
Many had then questioned the naming of the weapon system. In a piece for The Eurasian Times, Indian analyst Sumit Ahlawat claimed that the naming was ‘deliberate.’ He argued that by invoking rulers who expanded Islamic rule in India, Pakistan’s military establishment reinforces two narratives central to its national identity—Pakistan is the heir to the subcontinent’s Muslim empires, and that its weapons are oriented toward India, both symbolically and strategically.
Now, the Afghan names have become a thorn in their side, since Pakistan now drives the narrative that the Taliban is essentially fighting a proxy war against the country for India.
According to Ahlawat, even the linguistic choices reflect this orientation. Missile names such as Nasr (victory in Arabic), Ababeel (sparrow), and Shaheen (falcon in Persian) are drawn from Arabic and Persian, not from Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, or Sindhi—the major languages spoken in Pakistan. This linguistic preference aligns with Pakistan’s broader project of Islamisation, emphasising its ties to the Arab-Islamic world rather than the subcontinent’s syncretic, multilingual traditions.
It was perhaps a Pakistani X user’s post that summed up the situation: “Bro, that ancestor roulette never gets old. Always hopping empires for identity points while real alliances flip the script. South Asian nostalgia game stays undefeated.
(Edited by Saptak Datta)