Diving into the Durand Line: Border Complexities in Pakistan-Afghanistan
May 05, 2024 | Socio | Political | Economy
By ibnsre
Explore the Durand Line's historical significance and its role in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations.
Discover how this border impacts regional geopolitics, ethnic ties, and security dynamics.
Key Points:
- Introduction: Fundamentals of Durand Line Border
- The British Era: Historical Context
- Since Inception of Pakistan: Pakistan View Point
- Afghanistan’s View Point
- Global Community View Point
Introduction: Fundamentals of Durand Line Border
The Durand Line is the 2,611-kilometer international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was established during the colonial era by the British. Although the Durand Line is internationally recognized as the western border of Pakistan, it remains largely unrecognized in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan-Pakistan border dispute has been a longstanding issue between the two neighbouring countries, as prior Afghan governments have never fully accepted it. But why it’s so? Let’s delve into the details of this dispute.
The British Era: Historical Context
As the British Empire continued geographical, the Afghanistan was next target due to many reasons, as one of them was the perceived threat from the Soviet Union, and to make the Afghanistan buffer state.
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.
In 1878, during the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the British again invaded Afghanistan, The British decided to accept a new Amir who was a British opponent – Abdur Rahman Khan and the Treaty of Gandamak was signed in 1880. Afghanistan ceded control of various frontier areas to the British Empire. However, the British failed in their objective to maintain a British resident in Kabul but having attained their other geopolitical objectives, the British withdrew.
In 1893, Mortimer Durand was sent to Kabul by the British India government 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.
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.
The Durand Line triggered a long-running controversy between the governments of Afghanistan and the British Indian Empire, especially after the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Afghan War on 6 May 1919 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. Afghan rulers reaffirmed in the 1919, 1921, and 1930 treaties to accept the Indo-Afghan frontier.
The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, also known as the Treaty of Rawalpindi, was a treaty which brought the Third Anglo-Afghan War to an end. It was signed on 8 August 1919 in Rawalpindi, Punjab, by the United Kingdom and the Emirate of Afghanistan. Britain recognized Afghanistan's independence (as per Article 5 of the treaty), agreed that British India would not extend past the Khyber Pass and stopped British subsidies to Afghanistan.
The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1921, amending the Treaty of Rawalpindi agreed originally in August 1919, between the Britain and Afghanistan is signed at Kabul, on the Afghan government giving written assurances that no Russian consulates will be permitted in the areas adjoining the Indian frontier.
The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1930, The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of Rawalpindi, concluded in 1921, is reaffirmed, and shortly afterwards the British minister to Afghanistan, Richard Maconachie, reaches Kabul. Nadir Shah maintains friendly relations both with Russia and with Britain.
Since Inception of Pakistan: Pakistan View Point
Pakistan inherited the 1893 agreement and the subsequent 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi after the partition from the British India in 1947.
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.
Pakistan believes, and international convention under uti possidetis juris supports that binding bilateral agreements are "passed down" to successor states. The Pakistan position that it should not require an agreement to set the boundary; courts in several countries around the world and the Vienna Convention have universally upheld via uti possidetis juris, Thus, a unilateral declaration by one party has no effect; boundary changes must be made bilaterally.
Afghanistan’s View Point
In 1949, Pakistan Air Force bombed the Afghan sponsored militant camps in border areas including an Afghan village to curb an unrest led by Ipi Faqir propagating independent Pashtunistan.
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.
Global Community View Point
In 1950 the House of Commons of the United Kingdom held its view on the Afghan-Pakistan dispute over the Durand Line that that Pakistan is in international law the inheritor of the rights and duties of the old Government of India and the Durand Line is the international frontier.
At the 1956 SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) Ministerial Council Meeting held at Karachi, capital of Pakistan at the time 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.
