Durand Line Husain

8/14/2019 Durand Line Husain

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Durand Line(HusainMomin)

The Durand Line is the term for the poorly marked 2,640 kilometer(1,610 mile)border

between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

After reaching a virtual stalemate in two wars against the Afghans (see Great Game, FirstAnglo-Afghan War and European influence in Afghanistan), the British forced Amir

Abdur Rahman Khanof Afghanistan in 1893 to come to an agreement under duress to

demarcate the border between Afghanistan and what was then British India (nowNorth-West Frontier Province (N.W.F.P.), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (F.A.T.A.) and

Balochistan provinces ofPakistan).

The Durand Line is named after SirMortimer Durand, the foreign secretary of the British

Indian government, and the treaty also granted the Amir of Afghanistan (Abdur RahmanKhan) an annual salary from Britain along with shipments of weaponry. One of the two

representatives of the Government of Afghanistan was the Ahmadi Sahibzada Abdul Latif

ofKhost.

The Durand Line is sometimes referred to as the "Zero Line". Excluding the desertportion southwest of 66 degrees 15 minutes east longitude, 84% of the line follows clear

physical features (rivers or watershed divides). See Google flyover in links below. The

precise route of the remaining 16% straight line segments is also demarcated from the1894-95 demarcation reports and subsequent mapping such as the detailed (1:50,000

scale) Soviet maps of the 1980s.

Territorial dispute

Afghanistan before the Durand agreement of 1893.
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Afghanistan's loya jirga of 1949 declared the Durand Line invalid as they saw it as ex

parte on their side (since British India ceased to exist in 1947 with the independence of

Pakistan). This had no tangible effect as there has never been a move to enforce such adeclaration due to long periods of constant wars with other neighbors in the region. And

most importantly, there was no time limit mentioned in the Durand Treaty. Additionally,

world courts have universally upheld uti possidetis juris, i.e, binding bilateral agreementswith or between colonial powers are "passed down" to successor independent states, as

with most of Africa. A unilateral declaration by one party has no effect; boundary changes

must be made bilaterally. Thus, the Durand Line boundary remains in effect today as theinternational boundary between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is recognized as such by

most nations. Despite pervasive internet rumors to the contrary, US Department of State

and the British Foreign Commonwealth Office documents and spokespersons have

confirmed that the Durand Line, like virtually all international boundaries, has noexpiration date, nor is there any mention of such in any Durand Line documents. [1][2][3]

The 1921 treaty expiration refers only to the 1921 agreements.

Because the Durand Line artificially divides the Pashtun people, it continues to be asource of tension between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Frequent pressstatements from 2005 to 2007 by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharrafcalling for the

building of a fence delineating the Afghanistan/Pakistan border have been met with

resistance from numerous political parties within both countries. Leaders of Pashtuns onboth sides of the border do not recognize the Durand Line.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

From 2003 to the present, Pakistani military patrols have established bases up to a

kilometer or two onto the Afghanistan side of the boundary in the Yaqubi area opposite

Pakistan's Mohmand Agency [13] and a few hundred yards inside Afghanistan near theborder-straddling but Pakistan Frontier Corps-controlled bazaar of Angoor Adda (Angoor

Ada) area ofSouth Waziristan.

[14]

[15]

References

1. Daily Times,[1]

2. Daily Times,[2], September 30, 2005

3. Middlebrook and Millier(pdf file)

4. Pajhwok Afghan News,Independence Day observed in Peshawar, August 19, 2007.

5. Pajhwok Afghan News,Pashtuns on both sides of Pak-Afghan border show opposition to fencing plan, January 3, 2007.

6. Pajhwok Afghan News, More protests against fencing, January 10, 2007.

7. Pajhwok Afghan News,Fencing plan may defame Pakistan: Fazl, January 10, 2007.8. Pajhwok Afghan News, Peshawar-based lawyers warn to move SC against fencing,

January 10, 2007.

9. Pajhwok Afghan News, Governors oppose border fencing, January 9, 2007.

10. Pajhwok Afghan News,Protesters flay border fencing, January 7, 2007.

11. Pajhwok Afghan News,Border fencing a conspiracy: Taliban, January 7, 2007.

12. Pajhwok Afghan News,Pakistani forces start fencing: Governor, January 7, 2007.

13. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/07/25-170703.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loya_jirgahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_partehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_partehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-0#_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-1#_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-2#_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharrafhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-3#_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-4#_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-5#_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-6#_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-7#_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-8#_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-9#_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-10#_note-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-11#_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohmand_Agencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohmand_Agencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohmand_Agencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-12#_note-12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Waziristanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-13#_note-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-14#_note-14http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-14#_note-14http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-9-2005_pg7_12http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-9-2005_pg7_12http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-9-2005_pg7_12http://www.middlebrook-miller.com/assets/All%20Along%20the%20Watch%20Tower%20Oct%2020%202006.pdfhttp://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=41340http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29745http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29745http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29745http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30079http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30062http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30045http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30045http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29997http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29997http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29874http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29874http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29885http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29907http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/07/25-170703.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loya_jirgahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_partehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex_partehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-0#_note-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-1#_note-1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-2#_note-2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharrafhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-3#_note-3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-4#_note-4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-5#_note-5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-6#_note-6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-7#_note-7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-8#_note-8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-9#_note-9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-10#_note-10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-11#_note-11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohmand_Agencyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-12#_note-12http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Waziristanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-13#_note-13http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durand_Line#_note-14#_note-14http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_30-9-2005_pg7_12http://www.middlebrook-miller.com/assets/All%20Along%20the%20Watch%20Tower%20Oct%2020%202006.pdfhttp://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=41340http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29745http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29745http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30079http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30062http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=30045http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29997http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29874http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29885http://www.pajhwok.com/viewstory.asp?lng=eng&id=29907http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2003/07/25-170703.htm


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14. http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1293995.php/Clash_erupts_between_Afghan_Pakistani_forces_over_border_fence

15. "Go West, Young Durand Line, Go West", Afghanistanica.com, January 30, 2008

The Wind Blows Another Way at the Durand Line

By Husain Haqqani

The Indian Express, March 15, 2006

Pakistans relations with Afghanistan are in a downward spiral. First came thewar of words between President Hamid Karzai and General Pervez Musharrafover who was to blame for the resurgence of the Taliban along the mountainousAfghan-Pakistan border. Then, the Afghan parliament condemned Musharrafsuse of undiplomatic language about Karzai. Now, the head of AfghanistansSenate, Hazrat Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, has accused Musharraf and the ISI ofinstigating a suicide assassination attempt on Mujaddedis life. In between,Afghanistan demanded Pakistan stop naming its missiles after Afghan heroesand Pakistan claimed it was planning a fence along their complex 1,810 kmborder.

Musharraf and most Pakistani officials blame India for the deterioration inIslamabads ties with Kabul. But Karzai, Mujaddedi and the majority of Afghanparliamentarians now criticising Pakistani policy do not have a history of closeties with India. They lived as refugees in Pakistan between 79 and 88 when itserved, with US help, as the staging ground for the guerrilla war against theSoviet Union in Afghanistan.

India maintained cordial ties with the pro-Communist Kabul regime during thatperiod. Pakistans extensive hospitality for millions of Afghan refugees strainedPakistani society. But the Afghan Jihad was justified by Pakistans establishmenton grounds that it would create goodwill among Afghans and buy Pakistaninfluence across its northwestern border for years to come.

How did Pakistan manage to lose the goodwill generated by its support of Afghanrefugees and Mujahideen during their anti-Soviet struggle? The answer can befound in the near-obsession of Pakistans establishment with extending itsinfluence into Afghanistan. Pakistan should have been content with havingfriends in power in Kabul after the fall of the pro-communist regime in 92.Instead, its intelligence community adopted the attitude of British officers of the19th century.

Afghanistans frontier with British India was drawn by a British civil servant,Mortimer Durand, in 1893 and agreed upon by representatives of bothgovernments. After Pakistans independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistanileaders assumed that Pakistan would inherit the functions of Indias Britishgovernment in guiding Afghan policy. But soon after Pakistans independence,
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1293995.php/Clash_erupts_between_Afghan_Pakistani_forces_over_border_fencehttp://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1293995.php/Clash_erupts_between_Afghan_Pakistani_forces_over_border_fencehttp://afghanistanica.com/2008/01/30/go-west-young-durand-line-go-west/http://www.carnegieendowment.org/experts/index.cfm?fa=expert_view&expert_id=154&prog=zgp&proj=zsahttp://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1293995.php/Clash_erupts_between_Afghan_Pakistani_forces_over_border_fencehttp://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1293995.php/Clash_erupts_between_Afghan_Pakistani_forces_over_border_fencehttp://afghanistanica.com/2008/01/30/go-west-young-durand-line-go-west/http://www.carnegieendowment.org/experts/index.cfm?fa=expert_view&expert_id=154&prog=zgp&proj=zsa


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Afghanistan voted against Pakistans admission to the UN, arguing Afghanistanstreaties with British India relating to Afghan borders were no longer valid since anew country was being created where none existed at the time of these treaties.

Although India publicly did not support the Afghan demand for Pashtunistan,

Pakistans early leaders could not separate the Afghan questioning of Pakistaniborders from their perception of an Indian grand design against Pakistan. Theywanted to limit Indian influence in Afghanistan to prevent Pakistan from beingcrushed by a sort of pincer movement involving Afghanistan stirring the ethniccauldron in Pakistan and India stepping in to undo the partition of thesubcontinent. Pakistans response was a forward policy of encouraging AfghanIslamists that would subordinate ethnic nationalism to Islamic religious sentiment.

Pakistans concern about the lack of depth in its land defences led to thePakistani generals strategic belief about the fusion of the defence of Afghanistan

and Pakistan. Pakistans complicated role in Afghanistan beginning well beforethe Soviet invasion of 1979 and through the rise and fall of the Taliban can bestbe understood in light of this desire.

Karzai and other Afghan nationalists remain unwilling to accept Pakistans visionof Afghanistan as a subordinate state. Afghanistan maintains lose ties with Indiaand expects to pursue an independent foreign policy. Pakistan has offendedAfghans in the past with attempting to dictate their policies and by positioningitself as a major player in a contemporary version of the Great Game. Now,however, it also runs the risk of upsetting the US, which is militarily present inAfghanistan and has significant stakes in ensuring its stability.

Since the beginning of 2005, casualties in Afghanistan have been rising. TheTaliban insurgency is weak and not yet as threatening as the challenge in Iraq.But Afghan insurgents are clearly getting arms, money and training. The Talibanare also recruiting new members and undertaking bolder attacks such as the oneagainst Mujaddedi.Intelligence-led covert operations invariably have unexpected consequences,often described as blowback. Pakistan and Afghanistan must defuse currenttensions and build an open, diplomatic relationship in place of the Great Gamelegacy of intrigue and violence. A fence between Afghanistan and Pakistan is

unrealistic, as is the complete separation of the twocountries shared history. An American-brokeredaccord between Pakistan and Afghanistan to end thelatent dispute over the Durand Line, coupled withinternational guarantees to end Pakistans meddlingin Afghanistan, might be the basis for durable peaceand friendship between the two Muslim states.


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Durand Line Husain

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