Pakistan-Afghan relations: There are two countries on the map of South Asia. Both are neighbors of India. Both are notorious, for which there is only one reason – Terrorism. The first country is Pakistan, which is the messiah of terrorists and the second is Afghanistan, which has been the biggest training center for terrorists. For this reason, there has been a very cordial relationship between the two countries for a long time… there has been a relationship of bread and daughter… ammunition-weapons-terrorists, when whatever was needed, the other fulfilled it for one. .
Afghanistan, When Pakistan had to fight with Russia and later with America, Pakistan, sent fighters. When Pakistan had to go to war against India or carry out terrorist attacks, Afghanistan sent terrorists. The relationship of both of them remained like this… But now there is a rift in this relationship. This rift has turned into such a deep chasm that both the countries are eager to wage war against each other. After all, how the long-standing friendship between these two countries turned into such enmity and what changed in the politics of Afghanistan as well as Pakistan that both the countries became thirsty for each other’s blood, analysis on this issue today Will be done.
Durand Line, the border that separates Pak-Afghan
On August 14, 1947, when Pakistan was created as a new country by dividing India on the basis of religion, it inherited the border line with Afghanistan, which is called the Durand Line. One end of this 2670 km long border line meets with China and the other with Iran. However, now this Durand Line is the real reason for the war between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its history is about 130 years old. Then India was ruled by the British. In order to expand their rule, the British attacked Afghanistan in the year 1839. It was then said that the sun never sets on the British Raj, but the dream of the British was shattered in Afghanistan. About two years after the initial success in the war, the Afghan forces defeated the British army and the British had to return empty-handed from Afghanistan. But, the British did not give up. About 36 years after the defeat in the first Anglo-Afghan war, the British made another attempt.
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In 1878, the British again attacked Afghanistan and this time the British managed to win. It was recorded in the history books as the second Anglo-Afghan War. After winning this war, there was a treaty between Sir Lewis Kavanaghari on behalf of the British and King Mohammad Yakub Khan on behalf of Afghanistan, which was called the Treaty of Gandamak. But within a few days Mohammad Yakub Khan refused to accept this treaty. He again wanted to establish his control over the whole of Afghanistan. The result was that the British retaliated. There was a fierce battle in Kandahar, in which the British again won. After this, the British made Abdul Rahman Khan of their choice as the ruler and renewed the treaty of Gandamak, in which it was decided that now the British would not attack any part of Afghanistan.
After this treaty, the government of British India sent an English officer, Mortimer Durand, to Kabul in 1893, so that there could be an agreement with the ruler of Afghanistan, Abdul Rahman Khan, on the cultural, economic, military and political level as well as international trade. To be. On November 12, 1893, an agreement was reached between British India and Afghanistan, in which the boundaries of the two countries were determined. Officials from both sides sat in the town of Parachinar near Khost province of Afghanistan and a line was drawn on the map between the two countries. This line is called Durand Line. Through this line, a new province North West Frontier Province was created, which is generally called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This part came to British India. Apart from this, FATA i.e. Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Frontier Regions also came to British India, while Nuristan and Wakhan went to Afghanistan.
However, along with this partition, an ethnic group also got divided. This group was of Pashtuns, who lived near the Durand Line. Due to the drawing of the line, more than half of the Pashtuns remained in British India and the rest went to Afghanistan. But there was another ethnic group which was in the part of British India. This group was of Punjabis. Pashtuns and Punjabis always used to fight with each other, but due to the drawing of the line, the Pashtuns became weak, as their strength went to Afghanistan. These Pashtuns who went to Afghanistan became such fighters, who started attacks against Punjabis, who were recruited in abundance in the army of British India.
However, it happened after the partition that the British started connecting their part of the provinces with railways, while the people who went to Nuristan near Afghanistan were forcibly converted to Islam by the ruler of Afghanistan, Abdul Rehman Khan. But this agreement between British India and Afghan rulers could not last for long. In May 1919, British India invaded Afghanistan again, which is known in history as the Third Anglo-Afghan War. To end this war, on August 8, 1919, there was an agreement between the British Empire and Afghanistan in Rawalpindi. In which it was decided that the British Empire would recognize Afghanistan as an independent country, while Afghanistan would consider the Durand Line as the international boundary line. But after August 14-15, 1947, the situation changed once again.
When India became independent and Pakistan became a new country. Then with independence, Pakistan inherited this Durand Line, which used to separate Pakistan from Afghanistan. During this, the most difficulties were faced by the Pashtun people, who lived on the border with Afghanistan. The problem with them was that at the time of drawing the Durand Line, their families were so divided that some went to Afghanistan and some remained in Pakistan. There were constant differences between the two countries regarding this. Meanwhile, firing was done from Afghanistan side near the Durand Line. The newly-formed Pakistan responded to this firing by sending the Air Force and the Pakistani Air Force carried out an air strike on a village in Afghanistan built near the Durand Line. After this attack on July 26, 1949, Afghanistan announced that it does not accept the Durand Line. But then Britain intervened.
In June 1950, it was made clear from the British side that the boundary line between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be the Durand Line only. But this issue could never be resolved. Pakistan and Afghanistan often clashed on this issue. Then in 1976, Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan, the ruler of Afghanistan, went on an official visit to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. There he said that Afghanistan recognizes the Durand Line as an international boundary line. After that Pakistan-Afghanistan relations got resolved. There was a friendship between the two and it became so strong that when the Soviet Union sent its forces to Afghanistan, Pakistan deployed its fighters on the border of Afghanistan to fight the Soviet forces.
Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI also sent mujahideen to Afghanistan to fight on the instigation of American intelligence agency CIA. Then, when some peace was restored in Afghanistan and there was no chance of war after America-Russia left there, the Mujahideen of Afghanistan also came to help Pakistan against India. But when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in 1996, the Taliban again opposed the Durand Line. The Taliban said that there is no need for any border line between the two Islamic countries. The matter which was quiet for almost 20 years, suddenly started catching fire again. Not only this, when America freed Afghanistan from Taliban’s occupation and made Hamid Karzai the new President, Hamid Karzai also refused to accept this Durand line, because Hamid Karzai himself is a Pashtun.
Hamid Karzai had said that this Durand Line is a wall of hatred between two brothers. After the ouster of Hamid Karzai from power, Afghanistan is again under the control of Taliban. And the Taliban is firm on its old attitude that it does not accept the Durand Line at all. The result is that the tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan is increasing.
If a list of the world’s most dangerous places is made, then this Durand line drawn between Afghanistan and Pakistan is always a part of that list. Because when what will happen here, when bomb blasts will start, when there will be firing, no one knows. It is the fate of those living near the Durand Line that they always have to search for life amidst the fear of death. To reduce this fear and to protect itself from the attacks of Afghanistan, Pakistan had started fencing on this Durand Line in the year 2017, which is now nearing completion. But the Pashtuns living in Afghanistan and especially in the border areas of Afghanistan have always opposed this fencing of Pakistan. Ever since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021, the conflict between the two countries over the Durand Line increased further.
Now there is continuous firing between the army of Afghanistan and the army of Pakistan in the border area and a war-like situation is being created between the two countries. But recently the situation worsened when Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistani version of Taliban of Afghanistan, captured the Bannu Counter Terrorism Center located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and took many people hostage. After three days of military action, the Pakistani army killed all the TTP terrorists and got the hostages released. But this again added fuel to the smoldering relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Although the Taliban of Afghanistan has been considering this TTP as an internal matter of Pakistan, but the reality is that TTP has been getting fuel from the Afghan Taliban. Because the language of both against Pakistan and the purpose of both is the same. The Afghan Taliban also says that the Durand Line is wrong and that Pakistan is ruling the Pashtun people. TTP’s working area is also the area near Durand Line and it also says that its rule will run in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near Durand Line and Pakistan Army will have to withdraw from here.
Overall, when it comes to Islam only, these two countries and their terrorists may appear united against the world and carry out terrorist activities unitedly against all the countries of the world, but when it comes to themselves, both of them The country and its rulers actually live against each other, the root of which is the line drawn during the British era, which is called the Durand Line. This is the whole story of the deteriorating relations between Pakistan-Afghanistan and terrorists.
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