The genesis of the Durand Line It all dates back to the Great Game of the 19th century, a term coined to refer to the geopolitical rivalries between the erstwhile Russian and British empires.
Fears that Russia may advance beyond the Oxus River and eye the jewel in its crown, India, prompted the British colonial administration to consider setting up a buffer zone by signing a pact with the then amir of Afghanistan, Abdur Rahman. These fears were fuelled by growing penetration of the Russian goods in Afghanistan along with heavy Russian military presence in the vicinity of North Afghanistan in that period.
Since , when Pakistan was born, this land border has been a bone of contention between the two neighbouring countries. Some say that it's an arbitrarily drawn line, predominantly based on physical features of the land.
Since Durand had no idea about the ethnicity and the geography of the region, it ended up ignorantly dividing traditional Pashtun tribal areas between two countries. Other historians claim that the Durand Line was a well-planned ploy to put the strategic Khyber Pass on the British side. Moreover, some scholars point out that the Durand Line Agreement had not been ratified by any legislative bodies of either side, hence it was legally untenable.
Things blew up as the British empire started to crumble. In , when a newly created Pakistan inherited the Durand Line, Afghanistan questioned the legal sanctity of the treaty since it had been signed with the British Crown and ought to have lapsed at independence. The latter are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and constitute around Many Afghans continue to claim agreement to the Durand Line was obtained under duress.
Satellite imagery reportedly reveals that in some cases even buildings have been split between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Some experts say that this division paved the way for the weakening of the identity of Pathan people as they were cut-off from their roots and the rest of the community.
Till the borders remained open and unfenced, things did not reach a flashpoint. There are economic considerations at play too. The Durand Line caused Afghanistan to lose the province of Balochistan, thereby depriving the country of its historic access to the Arabian Sea.
This is why the movement for incorporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or North-West Frontier Province and the Federally administered tribal areas FATA regions of Pakistan, stretching up to Balochistan, has gained further momentum in the post phase.
The Pashtuns are the second-largest ethnic community in this province. This eventually led to the creation of the TTP terror group that has carried out multiple terror attacks within Pakistan. A bigger factor is its desire to weaken Pashtun nationalism. To eliminate possible secessionist threats, Pakistan decided to use Islamic nationalism and hence established scores of madrassas in the Fata and NWFP regions along the Durand Line.
It was a similar line of thinking that prompted Pakistan to back the Taliban in the first place, many of whom studied at the madrassas it had set up. That is why it has given all manner of support to the Taliban since the s. Two decades on, the fundamentalist terror outfit appears more prepared to take a formal stand on the matter, which is the polar opposite of what Pakistan has wanted all along.
Punjabis and Pashtuns There are two major ethnic groups near the Durand Line. Those two groups are the Punjab is and the Pashtun s. Most Punjabis and Pashtuns are Sunni Muslim.
Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan. Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. There are also a lot of Pashtuns in northwestern Pakistan, where they ruled over , square kilometers 40, square miles of territory, before being defeated by the British in At the time, the Pashtuns were fighting to prevent the Punjabis from expanding farther into the mountains of southeastern Afghanistan. The British established the Durand Line after conquering the Pashtuns.
Eighty-five percent of the Durand Line follows rivers and other physical features, not ethnic boundaries. It split the Pashtuns into two separate countries. Afghanistan governs all the Pashtuns on one side of the Durand Line, while Pakistan governs all the Pashtuns on the other.
The Pashtuns on the Pakistan side of the border made up more than half of the Pashtun population , but were now under the control of the Punjabis, which made them angry. The Pashtuns were also angry at the British colonial government.
Throughout history, colonial forces like the British have set boundaries that cause great tension for people who lived in the colony. On one side is the Pakistani army , made up mostly of Punjabis, and on the other is the Taliban , made up mostly of Pashtuns.
The Afghanistan government encourages the Pashtun people inside Pakistan to have their own separate state inside that country. For the 41 million Pashtuns in the region, support is also growing for a separate country called Pashtunistan.
Pashtunistan is also the name for the area between Afghanistan and Pakistan where most Pashtuns live. It also includes 10 provinces in Afghanistan. The conflict between the Taliban, the Afghanistan government, the Pakistani government, and foreign including American troops in the area is often violent. The Durand Line endures suicide bombs, air strikes, or street fighting almost every day. Large Tribe The 40 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other countries, are the largest tribal group in the world.
Pashtuns are considered a tribal group because their political structure is based on family or clan. There are about 60 major Pashtun clans. Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, is Pashtun. He is a part of the Tareen clan and the Popalzai sub-clan. Our emails are made to shine in your inbox, with something fresh every morning, afternoon, and weekend.
The situation in Afghanistan could potentially set off a domino effect in the Indian subcontinent. For one, history suggests that a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan has contributed to militancy and conflict in Kashmir. ISI, he said, was probably expecting 10,, soldiers. India, which has often assumed the role of a stabilizing democratic force in the region, stands to be isolated in this scenario if it does not tread with caution.
He cites the example of former Afghan president Mohammad Najibullah, who resisted the Taliban for two years without US support before his own execution in But it is also likely that India foresaw the Taliban taking on a key role in Afghanistan once US troops exited.
India neither confirmed nor denied this meeting. He expects India to quietly and cautiously reach out more to the Taliban, though formal recognition of the new regime is unlikely anytime soon.
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