When the Taliban said a few days ago that the Afghans oppose the fence erected by Pakistan along the Durand Line, it led to a shaken and shocked Pakistani administration. In fact, political watchers see it as the onset of cracks in the Pakistan-Taliban relationship — a relationship that has so far been the one of utmost support and camaraderie.

What did the Taliban say?

Speaking to Pashtun TV earlier this week, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, “The new Afghan government will announce its position on this issue [the fence along the Durand line]. The fencing has separated people and divided families. We want to create a secure and peaceful environment on the border so there is no need to create barriers.”

This has clearly indicated that the Taliban is not in favour of realising Pakistan’s fantasy of fencing the border with Afghanistan. Evidently, the Taliban regime’s decision on the issue will most probably be against Pakistani interests.

What is the Durand line?

The Durand Line is the 2,670-kilometre international land border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It was the demarcation drawn by British administrator Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893, through a pact with Abdur Rahman, the then Amir of Afghanistan.

Known as the Durand Line, the border is the legacy of The Great Game — a 19th-century agreement between Great Britain and Russian regimes governing India and Afghanistan respectively. Afghanistan was used as a buffer by the British, who feared that the Russian expansionist ambitions to its east.

The Durand Line agreement was signed on November 12, 1893, between Durand and Abdur Rahman. The Amir of Afghanistan was a puppet in the hands of the British regime, and the pact essentially separated British India’s ‘spheres of influence’ on the Afghan frontier from Rahman’s.

Having no idea about the ethnicity and the geography of the region, it is said that Durand drew a line on a small map of Afghanistan during his negotiations with the Amir. And this line that was drawn on the map geographically stretched from Afghanistan’s border with China to its border with Iran. Speaking of affecting the lives of the people, the line effectively cut through Pashtun tribal areas. It cut across villages, dividing families and land, between the two spheres of influence.

Historians also say that Durand did not draw the line innocuously and ignorantly. They believe that it was a well-planned ploy to put the strategic Khyber Pass on the British side.

In 1947, when Pakistan was created, it inherited the Durand Line. And Afghanistan refused to recognise it stating that it ‘had no legal sanctity.

In fact, at the time of Partition, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan even demanded an independent country for the Pashtuns called ‘Pashtunistan’. However, he soon realised that it was not to be. Nonetheless, the comradeship between Afghanistan’s Sarhadi Gandhi (Frontier Gandhi) and India’s Mahatma Gandhi was a thorn in the eyes of the Muslim League. To date, Pakistan lives under the haunt and fear of a Pashtun uprising backed by India.

What is the issue now?

Pashtuns have been the unhappiest with Durand’s arrangement, and see it as a ‘line of hatred’ that was drawn arbitrarily and illogically to cruelly trick them into accepting a raw deal.

The cross-border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan reached its peak in 2017 leading to violent conflicts along the border. At this point, Pakistan began erecting the fence along the Durand line to secure its position. And it was also at the time when Pakistan was sheltering the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.

After the US-backed government was overthrown in Afghanistan, Pakistan was almost certain that the “friendly” Taliban would not object to the fence. So it has clearly come as a big blow to Pakistan.

The big question

The question now is whether the Taliban will continue to defend the traditional Afghani demand of the Durand Line to be wiped out at the cost of its relationship with Pakistan. Or will Pakistan continue to insist on the fence and invite the wrath and ire of one of the most violent militias that it has backed all along?