Durand Line

From Bharatpedia, an open encyclopedia


Template:Infobox border The Durand Line (Pashto: د ډیورنډ کرښه‎; Urdu: ڈیورنڈ لائن‎), forms the Afghanistan–Pakistan border, a 2,670-kilometre (1,660 mi) international land border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in South Asia.[1] The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to the border with China.

The Durand Line was established in 1893 as the international border between British India and the Emirate of Afghanistan by Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat of the Indian Civil Service, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the Afghan Emir, to fix the limit of their respective spheres of influence and improve diplomatic relations and trade. The British Empire considered Afghanistan to be an independent state at the time, although they controlled its foreign affairs and diplomatic relations.

The single-page Agreement, dated 12 November 1893, contains seven short articles, including a commitment not to exercise interference beyond the Durand Line.[2] A joint British-Afghan demarcation survey took place starting from 1894, covering some 800 miles (1,300 km) of the border.[3][4] Established towards the close of the British–Russian "Great Game" rivalry, the resulting line established Afghanistan as a buffer zone between British and Russian interests in the region.[5] The line, as slightly modified by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, was inherited by Pakistan in 1947, following its independence.

The Durand line cuts through to demarcate Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan of northern and western Pakistan from the northeastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. From a geopolitical and geostrategic perspective, it has been described as one of the most dangerous borders in the world.[6][7][8][9]

Although the Durand Line is internationally recognized as the western border of Pakistan, it remains largely unrecognized in Afghanistan.[10][11][12][13][14] Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan, former prime minister and president of Afghanistan, vigorously opposed the border and launched a propaganda war – however during his visit to Pakistan in August 1976 he softened his tone by recognising the Durand line as the border.[15][16][17][18][19] In 2017, amid cross-border tensions, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that Afghanistan will "never recognise" the Durand Line as the border between the two countries.[20]

Historical background[edit]

Arachosia and the Pactyans during the 1st millennium BC

The area through which the Durand Line runs has been inhabited by the indigenous Pashtuns[21] since ancient times, at least since 500 B.C. The Greek historian Herodotus mentioned a people called Pactyans living in and around Arachosia as early as the 1st millennium BC.[22] The Baloch tribes inhabit the southern end of the line, which runs in the Balochistan region that separates the ethnic Baloch people.

Arab Muslims conquered the area in the 7th century and introduced Islam to the Pashtuns. It is believed that some of the early Arabs also settled among the Pashtuns in the Sulaiman Mountains.[23] These Pashtuns were historically known as "Afghans" and are believed to be mentioned by that name in Arabic chronicles as early as the 10th century.[24] The Pashtun area (known today as the "Pashtunistan" region) fell within the Ghaznavid Empire in the 10th century followed by the Ghurids, Timurids, Mughals, Hotakis, by the Durranis, and thereafter the Sikhs.[25]

Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, British diplomat and civil servant of colonial British India. The Durand Line is named in his honour.

In 1839, during the First Anglo-Afghan War, British-led Indian forces invaded Afghanistan and initiated a war with the Afghan rulers. Two years later, in 1842, the British were defeated and the war ended. The British again invaded Afghanistan in 1878, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. The British were successful in installing an Amir – Abdur Rahman Khan and the Treaty of Gandamak was signed in 1880. Afghanistan ceded control of various frontier areas to the British Empire. In addition to having attained all of their geopolitical objectives the British withdrew.

In 1893, Mortimer Durand was dispatched to Kabul by the government of British India to sign an agreement with Amir Abdur Rahman Khan for fixing the limits of their respective spheres of influence as well as improving diplomatic relations and trade. On 12 November 1893, the Durand Line Agreement was reached.[2] The two parties later camped at Parachinar, a small town near Khost in Afghanistan, which is now part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan, to delineate the frontier.[citation needed]

From the British side, the camp was attended by Mortimer Durand and Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum, Political Agent Khyber Agency representing the British Viceroy of India and Governor General of India.[citation needed] The Afghan side was represented by Sahibzada Abdul Latif and a former governor of Khost Province in Afghanistan, Sardar Shireendil Khan, representing Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.[citation needed] The original 1893 Durand Line Agreement was written in English, with translated copies in Dari.

The resulting agreement or treaty led to the creation of a new province called the North-West Frontier Province, now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan which includes FATA and the Frontier Regions. It also led to Afghanistan receiving Nuristan and Wakhan.

Demarcation surveys on the Durand Line[edit]

The initial and primary demarcation, a joint Afghan-British survey and mapping effort, covered 1,300 kilometres (800 mi) and took place from 1894 to 1896. Detailed topographic maps locating hundreds of boundary demarcation pillars were soon published and are available in the Survey of India collection at the British Library.[26]

The complete 20-page text of these detailed joint Afghan-British demarcation surveys is available in several sources.[27][28]

In 1896, the long stretch from the Kabul River to China, including the Wakhan Corridor, was declared demarcated by virtue of its continuous, distinct watershed ridgeline, leaving only the section near the Khyber Pass to be finally demarcated in the treaty of 22 November 1921, signed by Mahmud Tarzi, "Chief of the Afghan Government for the conclusion of the treaty" and "Henry R. C. Dobbs, Envoy Extraordinary and Chief of the British Mission to Kabul."[27] A very short adjustment to the demarcation was made at Arundu (Arnawai) in 1933–34.[4][27]

Cultural impact of the Durand Line[edit]

Shortly after demarcation of the Durand Line, the British began connecting the region on their side of the Durand Line to the North Western State Railway. Meanwhile, Abdur Rahman Khan conquered the Nuristanis and made them Muslims. Concurrently, Afridi tribesmen began rising up in arms against the British, creating a zone of instability between Peshawar and the Durand Line. Further, frequent skirmishes and wars between the Afghanistan and the British Raj starting in the 1870s made travel between Peshawar and Jalalabad almost impossible. As a result, travel across the boundary was almost entirely halted. Further, the British recruited tens of thousands of local Pashtuns into the British Indian Army and stationed them throughout British India and southeast Asia. Exposure to India, combined with the ease of travel eastwards into Punjab and the difficulty of travel towards Afghanistan, led many Pashtuns to orient themselves towards the heartlands of British India and away from Kabul. By the time of Indian independence, political opinion was divided into those who supported a homeland for Muslim Indians in the shape of Pakistan, those who supported reunification with Afghanistan, and those who believed that a united India would be a better option.

British Indian Empire declares war on Afghanistan[edit]

The Durand Line triggered a long-running controversy between the governments of Afghanistan and the British Indian Empire,[2] especially after the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Afghan War when Afghanistan's capital (Kabul) and its eastern city of Jalalabad were bombed by the No. 31 and No. 114 Squadrons of the British Royal Air Force in May 1919.[29][30] Afghan rulers reaffirmed in the 1919, 1921, and 1930 treaties to accept the Indo-Afghan frontier.[31][27][32]

The Afghan Government accepts the Indo–Afghan frontier accepted by the late Amir

— Article V of the August 8, 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi

The two high contracting parties mutually accept the Indo-Afghan frontier as accepted by the Afghan Government under Article V of the Treaty concluded on August 8, 1919

— Article II of the November 22, 1921 finalising of the Treaty of Rawalpindi

Territorial dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan[edit]

Pakistan inherited the 1893 agreement and the subsequent 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi after the partition from the British India in 1947. There has never been a formal agreement or ratification between Islamabad and Kabul.[33] Pakistan believes, and international convention under uti possidetis juris supports, the position that it should not require an agreement to set the boundary;[31] courts in several countries around the world and the Vienna Convention have universally upheld via uti possidetis juris that binding bilateral agreements are "passed down" to successor states.[34] Thus, a unilateral declaration by one party has no effect; boundary changes must be made bilaterally.[35]

At the time of independence, the indigenous Pashtun people[21] living on the border with Afghanistan were given only the choice of becoming a part either of India or Pakistan.[6] Further, by the time of the Indian independence movement, prominent Pashtun nationalists such as Abdul Ghaffar Khan and his Khudai Khidmatgar movement advocated a united India, and not a united Afghanistan – highlighting the extent to which infrastructure and instability together began to erode Pashtun self-identification with Afghanistan.[36] By the time of independence, popular opinion amongst Pashtuns was split amongst the majority who wished to join the newly formed state of Pakistan, and the minority who wished to become a part of the Dominion of India. When the idea of a united India failed, Ghaffar Khan pledged allegiance to Pakistan and started campaigning for the autonomy of Pakistan's Pashtuns.[36]

On 26 July 1949, when Afghan–Pakistan relations were rapidly deteriorating, a loya jirga was held in Afghanistan after a military aircraft from the Pakistan Air Force bombed a village on the Afghan side of the Durand Line in response to cross-border fire from the Afghan side. In response, the Afghan government declared that it recognised "neither the imaginary Durand nor any similar line" and that all previous Durand Line agreements were void.[37] They also announced that the Durand ethnic division line had been imposed on them under coercion/duress and was a diktat. This had no tangible effect as there has never been a move in the United Nations to enforce such a declaration due to both nations being constantly busy in wars with their other neighbours (See Indo-Pakistani wars and Civil war in Afghanistan). In 1950 the House of Commons of the United Kingdom held its view on the Afghan-Pakistan dispute over the Durand Line by stating:

His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom has seen with regret the disagreements between the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan about the status of the territories on the North West Frontier. It is His Majesty's Government's view that Pakistan is in international law the inheritor of the rights and duties of the old Government of India and of his Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom in these territories and that the Durand Line is the international frontier.[38]

— Philip Noel-Baker, June 30, 1950

At the 1956 SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) Ministerial Council Meeting held at Karachi, capital of Pakistan at the time, it was stated:

The members of the Council declared that their governments recognised that the sovereignty of Pakistan extends up to the Durand Line, the international boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it was consequently affirmed that the Treaty area referred to in Articles IV and VIII of the Treaty includes the area up to that Line.[39]

— SEATO, March 8, 1956

In 1976, the then president of Afghanistan, Sardar Mohammed Daoud Khan recognised Durand Line as international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He made this declaration while he was on an official visit to Islamabad, Pakistan.[15][40][17]

Geography[edit]

Borki, a village at the border, with Mount Sikaram's peak in the background, the highest peak of the White Mountains

The border is south of the Hindu Kush, while its eastern end by China is in the Karakoram range. These are regions of extreme high elevation, hence much of the Durand Line is bounded by mountains. The Spīn Ghar (White Mountains) range is roughly in the middle of the Line. The western part of the Line meanwhile is lower and sparse, consisting of the Registan Desert.

A view towards the border in Pakistan, taken in Paktia Province of Afghanistan

The highest peak, Noshaq, is located along the border between two countries, while some of the highest peaks in the world, including K2, are a short distance to the east of the Line's end on the Pakistani side.

The Kunar River, Kabul River, Kurram River and Gomal River all cross the Durand Line. At the very western end of the line is the Godzareh depression.

Border regions[edit]

The border is 2,670 km (1,660 mi) long. Twelve Afghan provinces are located along the border: Nimroz, Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Paktika, Khost, Paktia, Logar, Nangarhar, Kunar, Nuristan and Badakhshan – three Pakistani administrative units are located along the border: Balochistan province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Gilgit-Baltistan Region of Pakistan.

Since India claims all of Kashmir, India technically considers to have a 106 km border with Afghanistan (through Pakistani-controlled Gilgit-Baltistan in Kashmir and the Wakhan Corridor on the Afghan side), a view that has been echoed by some Indian politicians including the Home Minister. However the official ministry document itself does not mention a border with Afghanistan.[41] The Pakistani foreign minister has also denied the existence of an Afghan-Indian border.[42]

Border crossings and economy[edit]

The two countries are major trade partners, and therefore the various border crossings are economically important for the wider region,[43] particularly the Torkham and Khyber Pass that is also the main land connection between Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

Contemporary era[edit]

Afghan mujahideen representatives with President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1983

Pakistan's intelligence agency the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been heavily involved in the affairs of Afghanistan since the late 1970s. During Operation Cyclone, the ISI, with support and funding from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, recruited mujahideen militant groups on the Pakistani side of the Durand line to cross into Afghanistan's territory for missions to topple the Soviet-backed Afghan government.[44] Afghanistan KHAD was one of two secret service agencies believed to have been conducting bombings in parts of the North West Frontier (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) during the early 1980s.[45] U.S State Department blamed WAD (a KGB-created Afghan secret intelligence agency) for terrorist bombings in Pakistan's cities in 1987 and 1988.[46][47] It is also believed that Afghanistan's PDPA government supported the leftist Al-Zulfiqar organization of Pakistan, the group accused of the 1981 hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines plane from Karachi to Kabul.

CIA-funded and ISI-trained mujahideen fighters crossing the Durand Line to fight the Soviet-backed Afghan government in 1985

After the collapse of the pro-Soviet Afghan government in 1992, Pakistan, despite Article 2 of the Durand Line Agreement which states "The Government of India will at no time exercise interference in the territories lying beyond this line on the side of Afghanistan", attempted to create a puppet state in Afghanistan prior to Taliban control according to US Special Envoy on Afghanistan Peter Tomsen.[48] According to a summer 2001 report in The Friday Times, even the Taliban leaders challenged the very existence of the Durand Line when former Afghan Interior Minister Abdur Razzaq and a delegation of about 95 Taliban visited Pakistan.[49] The Taliban refused to endorse the Durand Line despite pressure from Islamabad, arguing that there shall be no borders among Muslims. When the Taliban government was removed in late 2001, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai also began resisting the Durand Line,[50] and today the present Government of Afghanistan does not recognize Durand Line as its international border. No Afghan government has recognized the Durand Line as its border since 1947.[51][52]

A line of hatred that raised a wall between the two brothers.

— Hamid Karzai
A U.S. soldier at Torkham border crossing, 2007

The Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO) depicts the line on their maps as a de facto border, including naming the "Durand Line 2310 km (1893)" as an "International Boundary Line" on their home page.[53] However, a map in an article from the "General Secretary of The Government of Balochistan in Exile" extends the border of Afghanistan to the Indus River.[31] The Pashtun-dominated Government of Afghanistan not only refuses to recognise the Durand Line as the international border between the two countries, it claims that the Pashtun territories of Pakistan rightly belong to Afghanistan.[11] The Durand Line Agreement makes no mention of a time limit, thus suggesting the treaty has no expiry date. In 2004, spokespersons of U.S. State Department's Office of the Geographer and Global Issues and British Foreign and Commonwealth Office also pointed out that the Durand Line Agreement has no mention of an expiry date.

Recurrent claims that (the) Durand Treaty expired in 1993 are unfounded. Cartographic depictions of boundary conflict with each other, but Treaty depictions are clear.[33]

— A spokesperson for U.S. State Department's Office of the Geographer and Global Issues
US DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy with Pakistani Frontier Corps and government officials right in front of the Afghan-Pakistani border

Because the Durand Line divides the Pashtun and Baloch people, it continues to be a source of tension between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.[54] In August 2007, Pakistani politician and the leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Fazal-ur-Rehman, urged Afghanistan to recognise the Durand Line.[55] Press statements from 2005 to 2007 by former Pakistani President Musharraf calling for the building of a fence on the Durand Line have been met with resistance from numerous Pashtun political parties in Afghanistan.[56][57][58] Pashtun politicians in Afghanistan strenuously object to even the existence of the Durand Line border.[59] In 2006 Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that "Iran and Pakistan and others are not fooling anyone."

If they don't stop, the consequences will be ... that the region will suffer with us equally. In the past we have suffered alone; this time everybody will suffer with us.... Any effort to divide Afghanistan ethnically or weaken it will create the same thing in the neighboring countries. All the countries in the neighborhood have the same ethnic groups that we have, so they should know that it is a different ball game this time.[11]

— Hamid Karzai, February 17, 2006

Aimal Faizi, spokesman for the Afghan President, stated in October 2012 that the Durand Line is "an issue of historical importance for Afghanistan. The Afghan people, not the government, can take a final decision on it."[10]

Recent border skirmishes[edit]

An MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle, one of a unit which is launched from Afghanistan to engage targets on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line

In July 2003, Pakistani and Afghan forces clashed over border posts. The Afghan government claimed that the Pakistani military established bases up to 600 meters inside Afghanistan in the Yaqubi area near bordering Mohmand District.[60] The Yaqubi and Yaqubi Kandao (Pass) area were later found to fall within Afghanistan.[61] In 2007, Pakistan erected fences and posts a few hundred metres inside Afghanistan near the border-straddling bazaar of Angoor Ada in South Waziristan, but the Afghan National Army quickly removed them and began shelling Pakistani positions.[60] Leaders in Pakistan said the fencing was a way to prevent Taliban militants from crossing over between the two nations, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai believed that it is Islamabad's plan to permanently separate the Pashtun tribes.[62] Special Forces from the United States Army were based at Shkin, Afghanistan, seven kilometres west of Angoor Ada, from 2002.[63] In 2009, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and American CIA began using unmanned aerial vehicles from the Afghan side to hit terrorist targets on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line.[64]

Afghan Border Police check travellers' passports at Torkham Gate in Nangarhar province

The border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan has long been one of the most dangerous places in the world, due largely to very little government control. It is legal and common in the region to carry guns, and assault rifles and explosives are common.[65] Many forms of illegal activities take place, such as smuggling of weapons, narcotics, lumber, copper, gemstones, marble, vehicles, and electronic products, as well as ordinary consumer goods.[54][66][67][68][69] Kidnappings and murders are frequent.[8] Militants frequently cross the border from both sides to conduct attacks. Recently,[when?] 300 Taliban militants from Afghanistan's territory launched attacks on Pakistani border posts in which 34 Pakistani security forces were believed to be killed.[70] In June 2011 more than 500 Taliban militants entered Upper Dir area from Afghanistan and killed more than 30 Pakistani security forces. Police said the attackers targeted a checkpost, destroyed two schools and several houses, while killing a number of civilians.[71]

The governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan are both trying to extend the rule of law into the border areas. At the same time, the United States is reviewing the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) Act in Washington, D.C., which is supposed to help the economic status of the Pashtun and Baloch tribes by providing jobs to a large number of the population on both sides of the Durand Line border.[72]

Much of the northern and central Durand line is quite mountainous, where crossing the border is often only practical in the numerous passes through the mountains. Border crossing is very common, especially among Pashtuns who cross to meet relatives or to work. The movement of people across the border has largely been unchecked or uncontrolled,[54] although passports and visas are at times checked at official crossings. In June 2011 the United States installed a biometric system at the border crossing near Spin Boldak, aimed at improving the security situation and blocking the infiltration of insurgents into southern Afghanistan.[73]

Throughout June and into July 2011, Pakistan Chitral Scouts and local defence militias suffered deadly cross-border raids. In response the Pakistani military shelled some Afghan villages in Afghanistan's Nuristan, Kunar, Nangarhar, and Khost provinces resulting in a number of Afghan civilians being killed.[74] Afghanistan's Interior Ministry claimed that nearly 800 rockets were fired from Pakistan, hitting civilian targets inside Afghanistan.[75] The Afghan statement claimed that attacks by Pakistan resulted in the deaths of 42 Afghan civilians, including 30 men and 12 women and girls, wounded 55 others and destroyed 120 homes. Although Pakistan claimed it was an accident and just routine anti-Taliban operations, some analysts believe that it could have been a show of strength by Islamabad. For example, a senior official at the Council on Foreign Relations explained that because the shelling was of such a large scale, it was more likely a warning from Pakistan than an accident.[76]

I'm speculating, but natural possibilities include a signal to Karzai and to (the United States) that we can't push Pakistan too hard.[76]

The United States and other NATO states often ignored this sensitive issue, likely because of potential effects on their war strategy in Afghanistan. Their involvement could have strained relations and jeopardized their own national interests in the area.[11] This came after the November 2011 NATO bombing in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.[77] In response to that incident, Pakistan decided to cut off all NATO supply lines as well as boost border security by installing anti-aircraft guns and radars to monitor air activity.[78] Regarding the Durand Line, some rival maps are said to display discrepancies of as much as five kilometres.[79]

Trench being built alongside the border[edit]

In June 2016, Pakistan announced that it had completed 1,100 km of trenches along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border (Durand Line) in Balochistan to check movement of terrorists and smugglers across border into Pakistan from Afghanistan.[80] Plans to expand this trench/ berm/ fence work were announced in March 2017.[81] The plans also included building 338 checkpoints and forts along the border by 2019.[82]

2017 border closure and reopening[edit]

On 16 February, Pakistan closed the border crossings at Torkham and Chaman due to security reasons following the Sehwan blast.[83][84] On 7 March, the border was reopened for two days to facilitate the return of people to their respective countries who had earlier crossed the border on valid visas. The decision was taken after repeated requests by Afghanistan's government to avert 'a humanitarian crisis'.[85][86] According to a Pakistani official, 24,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan, while 700 Pakistanis returned to Pakistan, before the border was indefinitely closed again.[87] On 20 March, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the reopening of Afghanistan–Pakistan border as a "goodwill gesture", 32 days after it was closed.[88][89]

On 5 May, following an attack on Pakistani census team by Afghan forces and the resulting exchange of fire between the two sides, the border was closed again.[90]

Pakistan's decision to close the border was to force Afghanistan to take action against militant groups who were using Afghanistan's soil to carry out cross-border attacks against Pakistan.[91] An Afghan diplomat at the World Trade Organization (WTO) claimed that Afghanistan suffered a loss of 90 million U.S. dollars as a result of closure of border by Pakistan.[92] On 27 May 2017, Pakistan reopened the border after a request from Afghan authorities, marking the end of the border closure that lasted 22 days.[93]

Border barrier[edit]

Pakistan is constructing a border barrier since 2017 to prevent terrorism, drug trafficking, refugees, illegal immigration, smuggling and infiltration across the Pakistan-Afghanistan International Border (Durand Line).[94] According to Pakistan the barrier is also necessary to block the infiltration of militants across the border.[95] As of January 2019, 900 km has been completed.[96] The Durand Line is marked by 235 crossing points, many of which had been susceptible to illegal immigration. The project is predicted to cost at least $532 million.[97]

As of 21 January 2022 the interior minister of Pakistan stated that only 20 km of fencing remains and it will be completed soon .[98]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "Pakistan". CIA World Factbook. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Smith, Cynthia (August 2004). "A Selection of Historical Maps of Afghanistan – The Durand Line". United States: Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2011. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. "The total length of the boundary which had been delimited and demarcated between March 1894 and May 1896, amounted to 800 miles". The long stretch from the Kabul River to China, including the Wakhan Corridor, was declared demarcated by virtue of its continuous, distinct watershed ridgeline, leaving only the section near the Khyber Pass, which was finally demarcated in 1921: Brig.-Gen. Sir Percy Sykes, K.C.I.E., C.B., C.M.G., Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographical Society (1940). "A History of Afghanistan Vol. II". London: MacMillan & Co. pp. 182–188, 200–208. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. 4.0 4.1 An adjustment to the demarcation was made at Arundu in the early 1930s: Hay, Maj. W. R. (October 1933). "Demarcation of the Indo-Afghan Boundary in the Vicinity of Arandu". Geographical Journal. LXXXII (4).
  5. Uradnik, Kathleen (2011). Battleground: Government and Politics, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 18. ISBN 9780313343131. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  6. 6.0 6.1 "No Man's Land". Newsweek. United States. 1 February 2004. Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2011. Where the imperialists' Great Game once unfolded, tribal allegiances have made for a "soft border" between Afghanistan and Pakistan—and a safe haven for smugglers, militants and terrorists
  7. Bajoria, Jayshree (20 March 2009). "The Troubled Afghan-Pakistani Border". Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Japanese nationals not killed in Pakistan: FO". Dawn News. Pakistan. 7 September 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  9. Walker, Philip (24 June 2011). "The World's Most Dangerous Borders: Afghanistan and Pakistan". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 31 December 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  10. 10.0 10.1 "No change in stance on Durand Line: Faizi". Pajhwok Afghan News. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2013. But Afghanistan has never accepted the legitimacy of this border, arguing that it was intended to demarcate spheres of influence rather than international frontiers.
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Grare, Frédéric (October 2006). "Carnegie Papers – Pakistan-Afghanistan Relations in the Post-9/11 Era" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  12. Rahi, Arwin. "Why the Durand Line Matters". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  13. Micallef, Joseph V. (21 November 2015). "Afghanistan and Pakistan: The Poisoned Legacy of the Durand Line". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  14. Rubin, Barnett R. (15 March 2013). Afghanistan from the Cold War through the War on Terror. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199970414. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2020.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Rasanayagam, Angelo (2005). Afghanistan: A Modern History. I.B. Tauris. p. 64. ISBN 9781850438571.
  16. Dorronsoro, Gilles (2005). Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to present. Hurst & Co. Publisher. p. 84. ISBN 9781850656838. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  17. 17.0 17.1 Nunan, Timothy (2016). Humanitarian Invasion: Global Development in Cold War Afghanistan. Cambridge University Press. p. 125. ISBN 9781107112070. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  18. ur Rahman, Hanif (December 2012). "Pak-Afghan relations during Z.A. Bhutto Era: The dynamics of Cold War" (PDF). Pakistan Journal of History and Culture. XXXIII: 34–35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  19. Durani, Mohib ullah; Khan, Ashraf (2009). "Pakistan-Afghanistan relation: Historic Mirror" (PDF). The Dialogue. 4 (1): 38. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 August 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  20. Siddiqui, Naveed (5 March 2017). "Afghanistan will never recognise the Durand Line: Hamid Karzai". Dawn. Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  21. 21.0 21.1 "Country Profile: Afghanistan" (PDF). Library of Congress Country Studies. August 2008. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  22. "The History of Herodotus, Chapter 7". Translated by Rawlinson, George. piney.com. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  23. Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (Firishta). "History of the Mohamedan Power in India". Persian Literature in Translation. Packard Humanities Institute. Archived from the original on 11 February 2009. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  24. "Baloch". Encyclopædia Britannica Online Version. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  25. "Kingdoms of South Asia – Afghanistan (Southern Khorasan / Arachosia)". The History Files. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 16 August 2010.
  26. BRIG.-GEN. SIR Percy Sykes, K.C.I.E., C.B., C.M.G., GOLD MEDALIST OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. "A HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN VOL. II". MACMILLAN & CO. LTD, 1940, LONDON. pp. 182–188, 200–208. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Prescott, J. R. V. (1975). Map of Mainland Asia by Treaty. Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 1975. pp. 182–208. ISBN 978-0-522-84083-4.
  28. Muhammad Qaiser Janjua. "In the Shadow of the Durand Line; Security, Stability, and the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan" (PDF). Naval Postgraduate School, Monterrey, California, US, 2009. pp. 22–27, 45. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
  29. "The Road to Kabul: British armies in Afghanistan, 1839–1919". National Army Museum. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  30. "Afghanistan 1919–1928: Sources in the India Office Records". British Library. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2011. 1919 (May), outbreak of Third Anglo-Afghan War. British bomb Kabul and Jalalabad;
  31. 31.0 31.1 31.2 End of Imaginary Durrand Line: North Pakistan belongs to Afghanistan Archived 16 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine by Wahid Momand
  32. Jeffery J. Roberts, The Origins of Conflict in Afghanistan (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2003), page 121.
  33. 33.0 33.1 Hasan, Khalid (1 February 2004). "Durand Line Treaty has not lapsed". Daily Times. Pakistan. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  34. Over 90% of present African nations signed both the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) charter and the 1964 Cairo Declaration, both of which "proclaimed the acceptance of colonial borders as the borders between independent states...through the legal principle of uti possidetis." Hensel, Paul R. "Territorial Integrity Treaties and Armed Conflict over Territory" (PDF). Department of Political Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, US. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  35. Hensel, Paul R.; Michael E. Allison and Ahmed Khanani (2006) "Territorial Integrity Treaties, Uti Possidetis, and Armed Conflict over Territory." Archived 15 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Presented at the Shambaugh Conference "Building Synergies: Institutions and Cooperation in World Politics," University of Iowa, 13 October 2006.
  36. 36.0 36.1 Rahi, Arwin (22 August 2017). "Would India and Afghanistan have had a close relationship had Pakistan not been founded?". Dawn. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  37. Baxter, Craig (1997). "The Pashtunistan Issue". United States: Library of Congress Country Studies. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  38. Durand Line, 1956, page 12.
  39. Durand Line, 1956, page 13
  40. Dorronsoro, Gilles (2005). Revolution Unending: Afghanistan, 1979 to present. Hurst & Co. Publisher. p. 84. ISBN 9781850656838. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  41. "On India-Afghanistan border, Amit Shah is right and opposition is not wrong". 9 December 2019. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  42. "Pak's Qureshi says Af doesn't share border with India, but what about PoK?". Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  43. Sediqi, Abdul Qadir (14 July 2021). "Afghan Taliban seize border crossing with Pakistan in major advance". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 July 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  44. "So called "terrorist camps" (in 1989?) and training". Support Daniel Boyd's Blog. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 16 December 2009.
  45. "Pakistan Knocking at the Nuclear Door". Time. 30 March 1987. Archived from the original on 9 January 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  46. Kaplan, Robert D. (23 August 1989). "How Zia's Death Helped the U.S". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  47. Pear, Robert (25 June 1989). "F.B.I. Allowed to Investigate Crash That Killed Zia". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
  48. "Interview with Peter Tomsen". PBS Frontline. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011. President George H. W. Bush's special envoy and ambassador to the Afghan resistance from 1989 to 1992
  49. The Unholy Durand Line, Buffering the Buffer Archived 25 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine by Dr. G. Rauf Roashan. 11 August 2001.
  50. "Pakistan's Ethnic Fault Line" Archived 3 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine by Selig S. Harrison, The Washington Post. 11 May 2009.
  51. Natural Resources in Afghanistan: Geographic and Geologic Perspectives on Centuries of Conflict Archived 1 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine By John F. Shroder. Elselvier, San Diego, California, USA. 2014. p290
  52. admin interview with former President Hamid Karzai (2 September 2016). "We will respect Pashtuns' decision on Pashtunistan: Karzai". Afghan Times. Archived from the original on 7 September 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2016. No one will recognize it. It cannot separate the nation. The line has not separated the nation.
  53. "Afghan Geodesy and Cartography Head Office (AGCHO)". Archived from the original on 21 January 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  54. 54.0 54.1 54.2 Newsweek, No Man's Land – Neighbor's Interference Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  55. Dawn News, Fazl urges Afghanistan to recognise Durand Line Archived 30 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  56. PAN, Pashtuns on both sides of Pak-Afghan border show opposition to fencing plan, 3 January 2007.
  57. PAN, More protests against fencing, 10 January 2007.
  58. PAN, Fencing plan may defame Pakistan: Fazl, 10 January 2007.
  59. PAN, Durand Line not a legitimate border: Zoori, 3 August 2009.
  60. 60.0 60.1 John Pike. "RFE/RL Afghanistan Report". globalsecurity.org. Archived from the original on 23 May 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2008.
  61. "Geonames Query Home Page". Archived from the original on 7 April 2007. Retrieved 3 April 2007. NGA Geonames database
  62. Clash erupts between Afghan, Pakistani forces over border fence – South Asia Archived 23 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  63. Fire Base Shkin / Fire Base Checo Archived 7 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved on 12 July 2013.
  64. NK. "NEWKERALA.COM for News, Information & Entertainment Stuff". newkerala.com. Archived from the original on 20 January 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
  65. Khan, Kamran. "Pakistan's Tribal Areas". PBS Frontline. Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  66. Amber Robinson (9 June 2009). "Soldiers disrupt timber smuggling in Afghan province". Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  67. Abdul Sami Paracha (28 June 2002). "Timber smuggling from Afghanistan on the rise". Dawn. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  68. "Six Pakistanis held in Afghanistan on timber smuggling charge". Dawn. 19 September 2005. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  69. "Pakistan suggests curbs to end smuggling from Afghanistan". 30 November 2009. Archived from the original on 1 November 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  70. The News.pk, 36 soldiers die in cross-border Chitral attack Archived 16 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 28 August 2011.
  71. The Frontier Post, Pakistan, Peshawar Archived 21 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. The Frontier Post. Retrieved on 12 July 2013.
  72. "S.496: Afghanistan and Pakistan Reconstruction Opportunity Zones Act of 2009 – U.S. Congress – OpenCongress". OpenCongress. Archived from the original on 18 July 2009.
  73. Biometric system installed in Spin Boldak Archived 10 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. 9 June 2011.
  74. "Pakistan fires missiles into Khost, say border police". Pajhwok Afghan News. 1 July 2011. Archived from the original on 2 December 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011. Nearly a dozen missiles were fired from Pakistan into Afghanistan's southeastern Khost province over the past 24 hours, border police said on Friday.
  75. Shalizi, Hamid (1 July 2011). "Afghanistan won't fire back on Pakistan: Karzai". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
  76. 76.0 76.1 Nichols, Michelle (7 July 2011). "Afghanistan, Pakistan to coordinate amid cross-border confusion". United States: Reuters. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  77. Tolo News, "Terrorist Safe Havens in Pakistan Must Go, Joint Chiefs Head Says" Archived 17 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. 10 December 2011.
  78. the CNN Wire Staff (10 December 2011). "Pakistan boosts border security after airstrike". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 October 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2011. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  79. Boone, Jon (27 November 2011). "Nato air attack on Pakistani troops was self-defence, says senior western official". The Observer. Archived from the original on 1 October 2013. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  80. Butt, Qaiser (20 June 2016). "1,100km trench built alongside Pak-Afghan border in Balochistan". Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 9 September 2017.
  81. Gul, Ayaz (25 March 2017). "Pakistan Begins Fencing of Afghan Border". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  82. "Former TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan has turned himself in: Pak Army". Dawn. 17 April 2017. Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
  83. "Pak. closes Afghan border crossing". The Hindu. Associated Press. 19 February 2017. Archived from the original on 16 August 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  84. "Pak-Afghan border closed for indefinite period: ISPR". The News International. 16 February 2017. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  85. Mashal, Mujib (5 March 2017). "Closed Afghan-Pakistani Border Is Becoming 'Humanitarian Crisis'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  86. "People throng Torkham as border reopens for two days". Express Tribune. 7 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  87. "Pakistan indefinitely closes Afghan border". Sky News. Reuters. 10 March 2017. Archived from the original on 22 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  88. "Pakistani prime minister orders the reopening of border with Afghanistan, ending costly closure". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 20 March 2017. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  89. Afzaal, Ali (21 March 2017). "Pak-Afghan border reopens after 32 days". Geo News. Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
  90. "Pakistan-Afghanistan crossing closed after border clash". Al Jazeera English. 7 May 2017. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  91. Zabiullah Ghazi. "Closed Pakistan-Afghan Border Causes Pain, Trade Losses". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 1 March 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  92. Sheerupa Mitra. "Pakistan closes Durand Line, causes $90 mn trade loss for Afghanistan". FirstPost. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  93. Siddiqui, Naveed (28 May 2017). "Pakistan opens Chaman border crossing on 'humanitarian grounds' after 22 days". Dawn. Archived from the original on 27 May 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2017.
  94. "Pakistan-Afghanistan border fence, a step in the right direction". Al Jazeera. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  95. "Focus on bilateral border dispute". IRIN. 30 October 2003. Archived from the original on 16 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  96. Al Jazeera English (29 January 2019), 🇵🇰 'Trump-style wall': Pakistan building wall on Afghan border | Al Jazeera English, archived from the original on 7 October 2019, retrieved 15 March 2019
  97. "The Fence Driving a Wedge Between Pakistan and Afghanistan". BloombergQuint. Archived from the original on 30 July 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  98. "2680kms fencing along Pak-Afghan border completed, Sh Rashid tells Senate". nation.com.pk. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Template:Borders of Afghanistan

Template:Afghanistan–Pakistan relations