Afghanistan-Pakistan relations and the Durand line: Why is it important?
Context: The bilateral relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan has always been under duress. A major point of contention between the two neighbours is the status of a colonial legacy—the Durand line, cutting through the Pashtun-dominated tribal areas.
In an already precarious environment, with the ascendancy of the Taliban, the tempo of tensions flared up in the last few weeks of 2021. According to reports, the Pakistani forces encroached 15 kilometres inside Afghani territory in the Chahar Burjak district to erect fences, a second such attempt after their efforts to do the same near the Nangahar province were thwarted by the Taliban.
In Afghanistan, irrespective of the people in power, the Line is considered a ‘historic mistake’, a vestige of British colonialism that the Afghanis don’t accept. After usurping the US-sponsored government in August 2021, the Taliban reiterated their position, asserting that the fencing has separated families, as well as restating that they won’t accept any fresh attempts to fence the ‘alleged’ border.
Pakistan, on the other hand, considers it the legally binding international border and regards the fencing as a fait accompli as 90 percent of it is completed, with no option left for Afghanistan but to accept its reality.
Circumstances which led to the signing of the Durand agreement and paved the way for the promulgation of the Durand Line
After the fall of the Durrani dynasty in the 18th century, the Pashtun empire disintegrated and the British eventually extended their control to the region. But the hinterlands were always a tough area to govern.
When the two Anglo-Afghan wars (1838-42 and 1878-80) failed to expand British influence and tame the belligerent tribal groups, a policy reassessment was undertaken.
Fearing Russian advancement towards Central Asia, and a possible attack from the Pashtun tribes on their settled populations, a multi-layered defence mechanism—a tripartite frontier—was postulated with three concentric frontiers:
The first at the foothills of the Sulaiman hills, till where the British had formal control;
The second where the vassal states under the ‘influence’ of British were located; and
The final buffer which was Afghanistan itself
Durand Commission
The Foreign Secretary, Sir Mortimer Durand was despatched to sign an agreement with the Amir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman.
Inked on 12 November 1893, the Durand line demarcated the Pashtun-inhabited region, creating a cleavage amongst the people who shared the same culture and ethnicity and didn’t identify with either of the two parties.
The agreement, apart from ensuring protection in case of a Russian assault, gave Britain access to major trade and access routes
Complemented its strategy of divide and rule to curb the burgeoning Pashtun nationalism
Both sides agreed to limit their area of influence and refrain from interfering into the territories of the other.
In exchange for the 40,000 square miles of area which Afghanistan lost; the British increased their grant to 60,000 pounds a year and assured protection in any eventuality.
Boundary commissions were formed, with the final boundary delineated in 1897.
Protests soon erupted, with tribes resisting the line, a resistance continuing till the present. At a Loya Jirga (tribal assembly) in 1949, Afghanistan unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. This position has remained unchanged, irrespective of who is at the helm in the country.
Formed during the term of Lord Lansdowne
For the Pashtuns, their ethnic identities surpassed any state-imposed identity.
Having lived together since the beginning, they regarded the line as nothing more than an ‘artificial division’.
Many Pashtuns still hold on to their tribal ways of living, exhorting ‘Pashtunwali’ more than the state-sponsored ideology that is forced on them.
Even before independence, the Pashtun Khudai Khidmatgar movement (Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan – Frontier Gandhi) in the North-western Frontier Agency, opposed Partition, and when Parition became a reality, they pushed for an independent ‘Pashtunistan’, refusing to integrate with Pakistan.
Having retained all major policies of the British after independence, Pakistan, however, continued to rule the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) through the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FAR), aggrandising power to inflict collective punishment on whole tribes for crimes committed by an individual.
It was only after the province merged with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in 2018 in an effort to bring it into the mainstream of the Pakistani state that the FAR was replaced by customary laws.
The validity of the agreement, has been questioned on the basis of certain provisions of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) (VCLT).
Afghanistan had evoked Article 51 and 52 of the VCLT to argue that
As the agreement was signed under pressure by the Amir and cannot be considered legal
Its unilateral withdrawal from all agreements signed with the British Indian authorities in 1949
Its objection to Pakistan’s status as the successor state
Pakistan defends its claim based on four subsequent agreements signed in 1905, 1919, 1921, and 1930.
Declassified British Foreign office files point otherwise.
The architects of the line didn’t wish to establish an international border. For them, its utility was in that specific time and space. This was pointed out by Durand himself who worried that envisioning the agreement as a ‘partition’ wouldn’t bode well for British interests in the region.
If this claim stands ground, then it also weakens Pakistan’s reliance on the four subsequent agreements as mentioned above as all of them reiterate the original treaty.
The way forward
The problem of the Durand Line can only be settled as part of a larger political reconciliation between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Such reconciliation would involve skirting the question of sovereignty, promoting transborder economic connectivity and cooperation, meeting the aspirations of the Pashtuns on both sides of the Line, and ending support to cross-border terrorism.
With Afghanistan on the brink of a humanitarian crisis and the Taliban struggling to establish order in the absence of international support and recognition, Pakistan’s support is still very crucial.
Can you answer the following questions?
The historical Durand line continues to be a thorn on the side as both Pakistan and Afghanistan are unable to come to a mutually beneficial conclusion. Discuss.
