i was going through an interesting artical which i found interesting to quote here .. hope it will increase the knowledge of some of new forum members regarding the actual status of durand line
In contrast to many historical accounts, Afghanistan did recognize the Durand Line as an international border. Abdur Rahman Khan’s successor, Amir Habibullah Khan, in 1905 signed a new agreement with Britain confirming the legality of the Durand Line. More importantly, article 5 of the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919, on the basis of which Afghanistan reclaimed its independence, says that Afghanistan accepted all previously agreed border arrangements with India. Unlike the previous two agreements, the Anglo-Afghan Treaty was not imposed by Britain. Afghanistan as an independent state agreed to recognize the Durand Line as an international border.
After the founding of Pakistan in 1947, Afghanistan demanded that Pashtuns living on the Pakistani side of the Durand Line be given the right to self-determination. Unsurprisingly, both Britain and Pakistan refused. In response, the Afghan government then began to ignore the Durand Line and instead assert claims over territories that lay between the line and the Indus River.
As a consequence, relations with Pakistan became tense, and this in turn influenced U.S.-Afghan relations in the 1950s and 1960s. Once Pakistan struck an arms deal with the U.S., Kabul realized that the balance of power between Pakistan and Afghanistan had shifted in favor of Pakistan. Hence, in the 1950s Afghanistan, too, approached Washington seeking military assistance and arms sales.
The U.S. demanded that Afghanistan improve its relations with Pakistan and join the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), of which Pakistan was a founding member, to contain the Soviet Union. Given its location on the Soviet border, Afghanistan declined. In the meantime, Kabul needed modern arms to balance Pakistan’s growing military power. So it turned to the Soviet Union.
Moscow willingly sold arms to Afghanistan and agreed to train Afghan military personnel. As time went by, this dependence on the Soviet Union increased. Estimates show that the Soviet Union gave Afghanistan $2.5 billion in military and economic aid between 1953 and 1978. In addition, thousands of Afghans went to military schools in the Soviet Union between 1953 and 1978—the very officers who staged two coups in 1973 and 1978, paving the way for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
Over the last several decades Afghanistan has suffered enormously from the Durand Line tensions. Afghanistan’s Cold War relations with the former Soviet Union ultimately led to invasion by the Red Army. Pakistan has tried to install a client regime in Kabul. Thousands of terrorists have crossed the Durand Line from Pakistan over the last decade and killed large numbers of Afghans. The Pakistani army has shelled areas in eastern Afghanistan, claiming they were shelling Pakistani territory.
Pakistan has been reluctant to engage honestly with Afghanistan on any issue, from trade to peace talks, because of a lack of trust. The Afghan government loses revenue each year as thousands of people—mainly Afghans—illegally cross the border without a visa, avoiding taxes. Tons of illegal goods are smuggled across the border annually, a further loss for the Afghanistan economy.
Many Afghans still dream—Pashtuns in particular—that one day they might reclaim the territories their forefathers lost between the Durand Line and the Indus River. That, of course, is unrealistic:
the country lacks the political, economic and military means to pursue any such claim. At any rate, the 30 million Pakistani Pashtuns would appear to have little motivation to join the 15 million Afghan Pashtuns. For more than half a century, Pashtuns have played significant roles in civilian and military life in Pakistan. Why leave that for a barely functioning Afghanistan?
There are multiple examples of ethnic groups living in two or more countries. Kurds, Balochis, Tajiks, Germans, to name a few, live in two or more countries. Afghans must recognize and embrace the fact that the same ethnic group can live in more than one country.
so Pakistan should listen the voice of 30 million Pushtoons in Pakistan and engage and capture the pushtoon majority areas since pushtoons of afghainstan are always ignored by central afghan govt. because of this ignorance Taliban came in to being and rest of issues created so this border should be stretched bit deeper in to afghanistan to finish this issue once and for all ....
![Uzair Shafiq [Босс]](/data/avatars/m/163/163056.jpg?1467134430){kind=avatar}
