Durand Line: A potential Conflict Between Af-Pak

The contentious Durand Line, which has divided Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as the Pashtun population, is set to trigger another round of confrontation between the two neighbouring countries already at loggerheads over terrorist groups, sheltered in Afghanistan, targeting the Pakistan security forces.

The possibility of the Durand Line issue adding to the troubled relationship became imminent when the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai dismissed Pakistani claims of the Line being the historic boundary. He said the Durand Line had no legitimacy as far as Afghanistan was considered. Afghanistan has never accepted the Durand Line as the border with Pakistan.

Stretching over 2,400 kilometres, the Durand Line has been a cause of persistent suspicion and tension between the two neighbours. The border has divided the Pashtun territories, disrupting traditional community bondages which had created a unique cultural identity for Pashtuns. The friction over the border has often triggered diplomatic spats and military confrontations over the years.

Pakistan building a fence along the border has often caused skirmishes with Afghan forces even before the Taliban took over the reins in August 2022. Pakistan believes the fence to be a practical solution to persistent security threats emanating from Afghanistan. Ironically, much of these threats caused by militant groups are the result of Pakistan’s own duplicitous policy of spawning and supporting terrorist groups in Afghanistan. For Afghanistan, the fence along with other travel restrictions imposed by Pakistan, is viewed as a deliberate attempt to keep the Pashtun community divided.

Although Pakistan had supported its protege, the Taliban, militarily and otherwise, to oust the US-led international forces, the Taliban regime had struck a discordant note vis-a-vis relationship with the patron, Pakistan. Pakistan has considered Afghanistan as a key part of its `strategic depth` doctrine against India but Afghanistan has had a different attitude. For Pakistan, the Durand Line was critical to counter its fears of a Greater Pashtunistan, coming together of Pashtun communities living on both sides of the border. Afghanistan saw the Line as more than a mark of border, a line that strangles the Pashtun nation.

Stanikzai’s statement came in response to Pakistani claims that the Durand Line was an ‘historic’ line and that there was no issue over the border with Afghanistan. The Afghan Foreign Minister pointed that the agreement to demarcate the border was signed between the British and Amir Abdul Rahman Khan and Pakistan had no role to play as it did not exist at the time.

With each side refusing to find a middle ground, like other contentious issues, the Durand Line will become another trigger for a conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the near future, a schism already reflected in the deepening scepticism among the Pashtuns about Pakistani state, especially its army. Pak has tried to pacify the Pashtuns by renaming North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) but the ethnic group remains divided between the two nations.