Afghanistan resisted calls from Moscow and London to expel the Italian and German diplomatic corps at the beginning of the Second World War. During 1940 and 1941, there were plans initiated by Afghan economic minister Abdul Majid Zabuli for Afghanistan to join the Axis bloc in return for Germany providing additional military aid and access to the Karachi Port by taking land from British India. In addition, Zabuli spoke of "liberating" the 15 million strong ethnic Afghan population across the border. However following the Soviet Union's change of allegiance to the United Kingdom, and their joint invasion of Iran, Afghanistan was suddenly surrounded by the Allied forces. It eventually in October 1941 accepted their demand to expel Italians and Germans, although small diplomatic staff remained. Afghanistan was right on the demarcation line between the proposed division of Asia between Germany and Japan. At the end of the Second World War the German military donated its remaining arsenal to Afghanistan as a sign of good faith for its neutral stance during the war.