The Afghanistan-Pakistan dispute over the Durand Line has taken centre- stage yet again. Facing prospects of high-octane street protests Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has dropped his plans of leading a high-level inter-ministerial delegation to Kabul on January 18 for two-day talks on the Durand Line dispute and the humanitarian crisis exploding in Afghanistan!
In the last week of December 2021, videos showing Taliban fighters removing Pakistan’s border fencing appeared on social media. Taliban commanders were seen threatening Pakistani soldiers against pursuing construction of the border fence. Various spokespersons and Taliban Commanders described the Durand Line border fence as “illegal”, and resolved to “not allow the fencing anytime, in any form”.
What is the Durand Line? Henry Mortimer Durand, Foreign Secretary of British India from 1884 to 1894 left behind two legacies in India and Pakistan. One, the popular Durand Cup Football Tournament in India that started in 1888, and the other the Durand Line established in 1893, in the Hindukush, running through the tribal lands between Afghanistan and British India. The Durand line was the outcome of an agreement that Henry Mortimer Durand had induced the Afghan ruler Amir Abdur Rahman to sign in November 1893, delineating the sphere of influence between British India and Afghanistan.
