All About Durand Line, Afghan-Pak Border That Kabul Refuses To Recognise

Following the Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks in Doha, the Taliban's Defence Minister, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, accused Pakistan of creating a false narrative about the Durand Line-- the international boundary line between both nations. Addressing the media, Mujahid stressed that the Durand Line was "imaginary" and was not discussed as part of the truce agreement between Kabul and Islamabad. 

"The use of the term 'border' by the State of Qatar is not based on our agreement, and we have not consented to it. There is nothing regarding this in any agreement between us and them. The Durand Line represents the Afghans position, and it will never be called a 'border'. We have not reached any agreement with them on this matter, nor is this the work of any government. This is a matter of national identity, and the nation will decide on it," Mujahid said, according to Tolo News. 

Following Afghanistan's protest, Qatar updated its official statement on the recent ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan by removing the word "border". 

Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs removed the phrase "on the border between the two brotherly countries", replacing it with "between the two brotherly countries" in the revised statement.

What Is the Durand Line?

Established in the Hindu Kush in 1893, the Durand Line runs through the tribal lands between Afghanistan and British India. In modern times, it has marked a 2,600-kilometre-long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is a product of the 19th-century Great Game between the Russian and British empires, in which Afghanistan was used as a buffer by the British against a feared Russian expansionism to its east.

The border was inked by British civil servant Sir Henry Mortimer Durand and the then Afghan Emir, Abdur Rahman Khan, to fix the respective spheres of influence and also to improve the diplomatic ties between the British establishment in India and the Afghan Kingdom.

Abdur Rahman became king in 1880, two years after the end of the Second Afghan War, in which the British took control of several areas that were part of the Afghan kingdom. His agreement with Durand demarcated the limits of his and British India's "spheres of influence" on the Afghan "frontier" with India.

The seven-clause agreement recognised a 2,670-km line, which stretches from the border with China to Afghanistan's border with Iran. The line divided the Pashtun areas into two, setting the region up for future tensions due to tribal allegiances on both sides of the border.

It also gave Balochistan to British India and defined the Wakhan Corridor, a thin strip of land running to the Chinese border (and separating present-day Tajikistan from the northern portion of Kashmir), as a buffer zone between the Russian and British empires.

The line was slightly modified by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919. The treaty was meant to be for 100 years, but in 1999, it was not renewed. With independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited the Durand Line, but the modern state of Afghanistan does not accept it, with Afghans claiming that all the lands located on the west side of the Indus were part of Afghanistan.

But Pakistan has insisted on its version of the border and has completely fenced it to prevent uncontrolled and unfettered movement across the border.

Reason Behind Recent Clashes

The contention over the Durand Line was not central to the recent clashes between the two neighbouring countries. Pakistan is grappling with militancy that has surged since 2021, when the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan and returned to power.

Islamabad alleges that hostile groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), operate from "sanctuaries" in Afghanistan, a charge the Taliban government routinely denies.

The cross-border violence flared on October 11, days after explosions rocked Kabul during an unprecedented visit by the Taliban's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India, Pakistan's archrival. Kabul blamed Islamabad for the attack.

The Taliban then launched a deadly offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response.