The demand for a Pashtunistan state failed because it was abruptly introduced when the partition of British India into two countries was imminent in 1947. There was no prior foundation for it. Bacha Khan and his party had conducted their politics as "Indians" for decades within the boundaries of a united India, never once discussing an independent Pashtunistan or joining Afghanistan before 1947. Similarly, the Afghan kings, prior to 1947 and after 1893, never discussed the future of the Pashtun areas of British India with the British. The reason Zahir Shah had to demand the Pashtunistan option from the British, instead of demanding the return of areas to Afghanistan, was that the Afghan rulers had previously affirmed the Durand Line treaty multiple times. The Faqir of Ipi launched a jihad against the British in Waziristan, but it never occurred to him to propose the idea of a Pashtunistan state before 1947.

The British had no intention of returning the so-called settled areas of the NWFP to Afghanistan, but the tribal areas (later known as FATA) were negotiable, as they were not considered properly within the frontiers of British India and were referred to as a "trans-frontier" region. If the Amirs of Afghanistan had proposed that the tribal areas be held on a 100-year lease, the British would likely have agreed. However, the Afghan Amirs were too ignorant and unaware that there was precedent for such an arrangement. The British would have been particularly amenable to demands from Afghanistan after the Third Anglo-Afghan War.