Editing Durand Line (section)

== Historical background ==
{{more citations needed|section|date=November 2017}}<!--no citations in 4 paragraphs in intro portion and entire "Cultural impact" section-->
{{See also|European influence in Afghanistan|Military history of the North-West Frontier}}
[[File:Afghanistan region during 500 BC.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Arachosia]] and the [[Pakthas|Pactyans]] during the 1st millennium BC]]

The area through which the Durand Line runs has been inhabited by the [[list of indigenous peoples#Southwest Asia|indigenous]] Pashtuns<ref name="LoC">{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |title=Country Profile: Afghanistan |publisher=[[Library of Congress Country Studies]] |date=August 2008 |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=8 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408085103/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Afghanistan.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> since [[Ancient history|ancient times]], at least since 500 BC. The [[Greeks|Greek]] historian [[Herodotus]] mentioned a people called ''[[Pakhtas|Pactyans]]'' living in and around [[Arachosia]] as early as the 1st millennium BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html |title=The History of Herodotus, Chapter 7 |publisher=piney.com |translator-first=George |translator-last=Rawlinson |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=5 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205055843/http://www.piney.com/Heredotus7.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[list of Baloch tribes|Baloch tribes]] inhabit the southern end of the line, which runs in the [[Balochistan|Balochistan region]] that separates the ethnic [[Baloch people]].

[[Arabs|Arab]] [[Muslims]] conquered the area in the 7th century and introduced [[Islam]] to the Pashtuns. It is believed that some of the early Arabs also settled among the Pashtuns in the [[Sulaiman Mountains]].<ref name="Ferishta">{{cite web|url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=10|title=History of the Mohamedan Power in India|author=[[Firishta|Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah]] (Firishta)|publisher=[[Packard Humanities Institute]]|work=Persian Literature in Translation|access-date=10 January 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211200506/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/pf?file=06901021&ct=10|archive-date=11 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> These Pashtuns were historically known as "Afghans" and are believed to be mentioned by that name in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] [[chronicle]]s as early as the 10th century.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9012039/Balochi |title=Baloch |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] Online Version |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=8 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080108175929/https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9012039/Balochi |url-status=live }}</ref> The Pashtun area (known today as the "[[Pashtunistan]]" region) fell within the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid Empire]] in the 10th century followed by the [[Ghurid dynasty|Ghurids]], [[Timurid dynasty|Timurids]], [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]], [[Hotaki dynasty|Hotakis]], by the [[Durrani Empire|Durranis]], and thereafter the [[Sikh Empire|Sikhs]].<ref name="HF">{{cite web |url=http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternAfghans.htm |title=Kingdoms of South Asia – Afghanistan (Southern Khorasan / Arachosia) |access-date=16 August 2010 |work=The History Files |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327233450/https://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsMiddEast/EasternAfghans.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Mortimer Durand.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mortimer Durand|Sir Henry Mortimer Durand]], British diplomat and civil servant in [[British India]]. The Durand Line is named in his honour.]]

In 1839, during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]], [[company rule in India|British]]-led Indian forces invaded Afghanistan and initiated a war with the Afghan rulers. Two years later, in 1842, the [[Massacre of Elphinstone's Army|British were defeated]] and the war ended. The British again invaded Afghanistan in 1878, during the [[Second Anglo-Afghan War]]. The British decided to accept a new Amir who was a British opponent – [[Abdur Rahman Khan]] and the [[Treaty of Gandamak]] was signed in 1880. Afghanistan ceded control of various frontier areas to India. The British failed in their objective to maintain a British resident in Kabul but having attained their other geopolitical objectives, the British withdrew.

In 1893, Mortimer Durand was dispatched to [[Kabul]] by the Government of India to sign an agreement with Amir [[Abdur Rahman Khan]] for fixing the limits of their respective [[spheres of influence]] as well as improving diplomatic relations and trade. On 12 November 1893, the Durand Line Agreement was reached.<ref name="LoC-Smith"/> The two parties later camped at [[Parachinar]], a small town near [[Khost]] in Afghanistan, which is now part of the [[Federally Administered Tribal Areas]] (FATA) of Pakistan, to delineate the frontier.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

From the British-Indian side, the camp was attended by Mortimer Durand and [[Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum]], [[Political officer (British Empire)|Political Agent]] [[Khyber Agency]] representing the [[Viceroy of India]] and [[Governor General of India]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} The Afghan side was represented by [[Sahibzada Abdul Latif]] and a former governor of [[Khost Province]] in Afghanistan, [[Sardar Shireendil Khan]], representing Amir Abdur Rahman Khan.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} The original 1893 Durand Line Agreement was written in [[English language|English]], with translated copies in [[Dari (Eastern Persian)|Dari]].

The resulting agreement or treaty led to the creation of a new province called the [[North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955)|North-West Frontier Province]], now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan which includes FATA and the [[Frontier Regions]]. It also led to Afghanistan receiving Nuristan and Wakhan.

=== Demarcation surveys on the Durand Line ===
The initial and primary demarcation, a joint Indo-Afghan survey and mapping effort, covered {{convert|800|mi|km|order=flip}} and took place from 1894 to 1896. Detailed [[Topography|topographic]] maps locating hundreds of boundary demarcation pillars were soon published and are available in the [[Survey of India]] collection at the [[British Library]].<ref name="Sykes">{{cite web
 |url=https://archive.org/search.php?query=184%20AND%20mediatype%3Atexts
 |title=A History of Afghanistan, Vol. II
 |author=Brig.-Gen. Sir [[Percy Sykes]], K.C.I.E., C.B., C.M.G., Gold Medalist of the Royal Geographic Society
 |publisher= Macmillian & Co. Ltd.
 |location=London
 |date=1940
 |pages=182–188, 200–208
 |access-date=5 December 2009}}</ref>

The complete 20-page text of these detailed joint Indo-Afghan demarcation surveys is available in several sources.<ref name="Prescott">{{cite book
 |title=Map of Mainland Asia by Treaty
 |author=Prescott, J. R. V.
 |publisher=Melbourne University Press
 |location=Carlton, Victoria
 |isbn=978-0-522-84083-4
 |pages=182–208
 |author-link=John Robert Victor Prescott|year=1975
 }}</ref><ref name="Janjua">{{cite web
 |url         = http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Jun/09Jun_Janjua.pdf
 |title       = In the Shadow of the Durand Line; Security, Stability, and the Future of Pakistan and Afghanistan
 |author      = Muhammad Qaiser Janjua
 |publisher   = Naval Postgraduate School
|location=Monterrey, California
|date=2009
 |pages       = 22–27, 45
 |access-date  = 14 December 2009
|url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110720015319/http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Jun/09Jun_Janjua.pdf
 |archive-date = 20 July 2011
}}</ref>

In 1896, the long stretch from the [[Kabul River]] to China, including the Wakhan Corridor, was declared demarcated by virtue of its continuous, distinct watershed ridgeline, leaving only the section near the [[Khyber Pass]] to be finally demarcated in the treaty of 22 November 1921, signed by [[Mahmud Tarzi]], "Chief of the Afghan Government for the conclusion of the treaty" and "[[Henry Dobbs|Henry R. C. Dobbs]], Envoy Extraordinary and Chief of the British Mission to Kabul."<ref name="Prescott" />
A very short adjustment to the demarcation was made at [[Arundu]] (Arnawai) in 1933–34.<ref name=Hay/><ref name="Prescott"/>

===Cultural impact of the Durand Line===
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2021}}
Shortly after demarcation of the Durand Line, the British began connecting the region on their side of the Durand Line to the [[North Western State Railway]]. Meanwhile, Abdur Rahman Khan conquered the [[Nuristanis]] and made them Muslims. Concurrently, Afridi tribesmen began rising up in arms against the British, creating a zone of instability between Peshawar and the Durand Line. Further, frequent skirmishes and wars between the Afghanistan and India starting in the 1870s made travel between [[Peshawar]] and [[Jalalabad]] almost impossible. As a result, travel across the boundary was almost entirely halted. Further, the British recruited tens of thousands of local Pashtuns into the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] and stationed them throughout India and southeast Asia. Exposure to India, combined with the ease of travel eastwards into [[Punjab]] and the difficulty of travel towards Afghanistan, led many Pashtuns to orient themselves towards the heartlands of [[British India]] and away from Kabul. By the time of Indian independence, political opinion was divided into those who supported a homeland for Muslim Indians in the shape of [[Pakistan]], those who supported reunification with Afghanistan, and those who believed that a united India would be a better option.

=== British Raj declares war on Afghanistan ===
{{further|Third Anglo-Afghan War}}

The Durand Line triggered a long-running [[controversy]] between the governments of Afghanistan and British India,<ref name="LoC-Smith"/> especially after the outbreak of the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] when Afghanistan's capital (Kabul) and its eastern city of [[Jalalabad]] were [[strategic bombing|bombed]] by the [[No. 31 Squadron RAF|No. 31]] and [[No. 114 Squadron RAF|No. 114 Squadrons]] of the British [[Royal Air Force]] in May 1919.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/exhibitions/afghanistan/page4.shtml |title=The Road to Kabul: British armies in Afghanistan, 1839–1919 |publisher=[[National Army Museum]] |access-date=11 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126035657/http://www.national-army-museum.ac.uk/exhibitions/afghanistan/page4.shtml |archive-date=26 November 2010 }}</ref><ref name="BL">{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/afghanistan/afghanistancollection/1919to1928/sources1919to1928.html |title=Afghanistan 1919–1928: Sources in the India Office Records |quote=1919 (May), the outbreak of Third Anglo-Afghan War. British bomb Kabul and Jalalabad; |publisher=[[British Library]] |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=16 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116111138/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/asia/afghanistan/afghanistancollection/1919to1928/sources1919to1928.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Afghan rulers reaffirmed in the 1919, 1921, and 1930 treaties to accept the Indo-Afghan frontier.<ref name="WM">[http://www.afghanland.com/history/durrand.html End of Imaginary Durrand Line: North Pakistan belongs to Afghanistan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216231305/http://www.afghanland.com/history/durrand.html |date=16 December 2009 }} by Wahid Momand</ref><ref name="Prescott"/><ref>Jeffery J. Roberts, The Origins of Conflict in Afghanistan (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2003), p. 121.</ref>

{{blockquote|The Afghan Government accepts the Indo–Afghan frontier accepted by the late [[Habibullah Khan|Amir]]|Article V of the August 8, 1919 [[Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919|Treaty of Rawalpindi]]}}

{{blockquote|The two high contracting parties mutually accept the Indo-Afghan frontier as accepted by the Afghan Government under Article V of the Treaty concluded on August 8, 1919|Article II of the November 22, 1921 finalising of the Treaty of Rawalpindi}}

=== Territorial dispute between Afghanistan and British India ===
{{See also|Afghanistan–Pakistan relations|War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|Afghan civil war (disambiguation)<!--intentional link to DAB page-->}}
Pakistan inherited the 1893 agreement and the subsequent 1919 Treaty of Rawalpindi after the [[Partition of India|partition from the British India]] in 1947. There has never been a [[Formality|formal]] agreement or [[ratification]] between [[Islamabad]] and Kabul.<ref name="DTP">{{cite web |url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23 |title=Durand Line Treaty has not lapsed |work=[[Daily Times (Pakistan)|Daily Times]] |location=Pakistan |first=Khalid |last=Hasan |date=1 February 2004 |access-date=11 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606143303/http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_1-2-2004_pg7_23 |archive-date=6 June 2011 }}</ref> Pakistan believes, and international convention under [[uti possidetis juris]] supports, the position that it should not require an agreement to set the boundary;<ref name="WM"/> courts in several countries around the world and the [[Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties|Vienna Convention]] have universally upheld via ''uti possidetis juris'' that binding bilateral agreements are "passed down" to successor [[Sovereign state|states]].<ref name = OAU-Cairo>Over 90% of present African nations signed both the [[Organisation of African Unity]] (OAU) charter and the 1964 Cairo Declaration, both of which "proclaimed the acceptance of colonial borders as the borders between independent states...through the legal principle of uti possidetis." {{cite web
 |url=http://www.paulhensel.org/Research/cmps07.pdf
 |title=Territorial Integrity Treaties and Armed Conflict over Territory
 |author=Hensel, Paul R.
 |publisher=Department of Political Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee
 |access-date=5 December 2009
|archive-date=27 July 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727164749/http://www.paulhensel.org/Research/cmps07.pdf
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref> Thus, a [[Unilateralism|unilateral]] declaration by one party has no effect; boundary changes must be made bilaterally.<ref>Hensel, Paul R.; Michael E. Allison and Ahmed Khanani (2006) [http://mailer.fsu.edu/~phensel/garnet-phensel/Research/iowa06.pdf "Territorial Integrity Treaties, Uti Possidetis, and Armed Conflict over Territory."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615031212/http://mailer.fsu.edu/~phensel/garnet-phensel/Research/iowa06.pdf |date=15 June 2011 }} Presented at the Shambaugh Conference "Building Synergies: Institutions and Cooperation in World Politics," University of Iowa, 13 October 2006.</ref>

At the time of independence, the [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] Pashtun people<ref name="LoC" /> living on the border with Afghanistan were given only the choice of becoming a part either of [[India]] or Pakistan.<ref name="Newsweek"/> Further, by the time of the Indian independence movement, prominent Pashtun nationalists such as [[Abdul Ghaffar Khan]] and his [[Khudai Khidmatgar]] movement advocated a united India, and not a united Afghanistan – highlighting the extent to which infrastructure and instability together began to erode Pashtun self-identification with Afghanistan.<ref name="Arwin">{{cite news|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1353172|title=Would India and Afghanistan have had a close relationship had Pakistan not been founded?|work=Dawn|date=22 August 2017|accessdate=9 September 2017|first=Arwin|last=Rahi}}</ref> By the time of independence, popular opinion amongst Pashtuns was split amongst the majority who wished to join the newly formed state of Pakistan, and the minority who wished to become a part of the [[Dominion of India]]. When the idea of a united India failed, Ghaffar Khan pledged allegiance to Pakistan and started campaigning for the autonomy of Pakistan's Pashtuns.<ref name="Arwin"/>

On 26 July 1949, when [[Afghanistan–Pakistan relations|Afghan–Pakistan relations]] were rapidly deteriorating, a [[loya jirga]] was held in Afghanistan after a [[military aircraft]] from the Pakistan Air Force [[1949 Mughalgai raid|bombed a village on the Afghan side of the Durand Line]] in response to cross-border fire from the Afghan side. In response, the Afghan government declared that it recognised "neither the imaginary Durand nor any similar line" and that all previous Durand Line agreements were [[Void (law)|void]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0022) |title=The Pashtunistan Issue |publisher=Library of Congress Country Studies |location=United States |first=Craig |last=Baxter| author-link = Craig Baxter |year=1997 |access-date=11 February 2011 |archive-date=16 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130216071805/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd%2Fcstdy%3A%40field%28DOCID+af0022%29 |url-status=live }}</ref> They also announced that the Durand ethnic division line had been imposed on them under [[coercion]]/[[duress]] and was a [[diktat]]. This had no tangible effect as there has never been a move in the [[United Nations]] to enforce such a declaration due to both nations being constantly busy in wars with their other neighbours (See ''[[Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts|Indo-Pakistani wars]] and [[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|Civil war in Afghanistan]]''). In 1950 the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] held its view on the Afghan-Pakistan dispute over the Durand Line by stating:

{{blockquote|[[Government of the United Kingdom|His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom]] has seen with regret the disagreements between the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan about the status of the territories on the North West Frontier. It is His Majesty's Government's view that Pakistan is in international law the inheritor of the rights and duties of the old Government of India and of his Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom in these territories and that the Durand Line is the international frontier.<ref>Durand Line, 1956, p. 12.</ref>|[[Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker|Philip Noel-Baker]]|June 30, 1950}}

At the 1956 SEATO ([[Southeast Asia Treaty Organization]]) Ministerial Council Meeting held at [[Karachi]], capital of Pakistan at the time, it was stated:

{{blockquote|The members of the Council declared that their governments recognised that the sovereignty of Pakistan extends up to the Durand Line, the international boundary between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and it was consequently affirmed that the Treaty area referred to in Articles IV and VIII of the Treaty includes the area up to that Line.<ref>Durand Line, 1956, p. 13</ref>|SEATO|March 8, 1956}}

In June 1976, a summit was held between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan which both sides made concessions, Pakistan publicly recognising the existence of the [[Pashtun question|Pashtunistan question]] which was a key part of Afghan foreign policy for decades, and the Afghans were willing to hold high-level bilateral talks without bringing up the subject regarding the fate of Wali Khan and his banned [[National Awami Party]] in [[Pakistan]] which the Pakistanis considered as "internal matters".<ref name=":0">[https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP08C01297R000100140003-5.pdf AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: THE POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DURAND LINE] (''www.cia.gov'')</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Historical Documents - Office of the Historian |url=https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76ve08/d22 |access-date=2025-04-16 |website=history.state.gov}}</ref>