DURAND LINE
PAKISTAN
& AFGHANISTAN
ANOTHER GEO-POLITICAL
PROBLEM
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
Do you see this brownish area between Pakistan and
Afghanistan? This brown area is spread across both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This area is of the Pashtuns. Most of the Pashtun people live in this area. And
the Durand Line is passing through this brown area.
The Durand Line is Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s
2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) boundary. It is the consequence of an agreement
between Sir Mortimer Durand, a British Indian government secretary, and Abdur
Rahman Khan, Afghanistan’s the then Emir, or ruler. On November 12, 1893, in Kabul,
Afghanistan, the agreement was signed.
The Durand Line has been the formal border between the two
countries for almost a century, yet it has caused controversy today among the people
who live there.
The British India thought that Tsarist Russia can any day
take over Afghanistan. This line was to stop Russia at Afghanistan. Most
historians agree that the border was set to keep vital areas like the Khyber
Pass on the British Empire’s side. Experts say Durand had insufficient
knowledge of the region’s ethnicity and topography, and hence divided
traditional Pashtun tribal territories in error.
Pakistan was still a part of India when the Durand Line was
established in 1893. India was in turn controlled by the United Kingdom. QUEEN of
The United Kingdom ruled India from 1857 until India’s independence in
1947. Pakistan also became a nation in 1947.
Today Afghanistan does not accept this Durand Line. But
Pakistan accepts this Durand Line. Pakistan believes that this Durand Line is
the real border but Taliban believes that this is not the real border. This
means that Taliban considers Quetta and Peshawar of Pakistan belongs to AFGHANISTAN.
This is the root of the controversy.
This dispute between two MUSLIM countries is also a gift from the British.
At present, the situation is such that the Taliban wants to
capture Quetta and Peshawar of Pakistan as well, that is why these two
countries kept fighting with each other since Taliban took control of
Afghanistan. It was not a war. Small
fights kept going on. There is peace for
a few months in between fights.
Tension has increased on the Durand Line ever since the
Taliban took over Kabul. As long as the USA was in Afghanistan, there was FORCED peace
between Afghanistan and Pakistan. As soon as the USA left Afghanistan, the
border dispute between Afghanistan and Pakistan got reignited.
BRITISHERS HAS MESSED UP OUR REGION IN ABOUT 200 YEARS THEY RULED
THE REGION.
REFERENCE:
2.0 https://www.civilsdaily.com/news/what-is-durand-line/
Image: GOOGLE
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