Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi referred to incidents on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border as “some complications” in a press conference, and stated that Islamabad was discussing the issue with the Afghan Taliban who took power this year. In response to videos circulating on the internet of Taliban forces bringing down border fencing put up by Pakistani security forces along the Durand Line, Qureshi claimed that incidents were being blown out of proportion by “certain miscreants.”
Meanwhile, a video has been shared on social media which shows Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarzmi expressing his view that Pakistan’s efforts to fence the border were “inappropriate and against the law.”
The 2,640 km border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, known as the Durand Line, is seen by Islamabad as the official border between the two countries. However, successive Afghan governments have often disputed this border-line, claiming that the Durand Line was set up by the British Empire to divide people who share a language and culture.
With Taliban-affiliated figures repeating the claim that the Durand Line remains an unresolved issue and questioning Pakistani authorities’ right to fence the border, commentators in mainstream and social media have argued that the new regime in Afghanistan shares the territorial grievances of its predecessors.
Foreign Minister Qureshi said, “Hopefully, we would be able to resolve the issue diplomatically.”
