Border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan are heading towards a dangerous level with recent incidents. In wake of the attack on Sehwan Sharif, Pakistan closed the border with Afghanistan for security reasons and conducted cross border raids against Jamaatul Ahrar (JuA) for neutralising its training camps. However, the closure of the border also led to a brewing deadlock with Afghan officials over the last couple of weeks due to non-cooperation from either side over various issues (with the bulk of the onus lying on Kabul). Moreover, a militant attack originating from Afghan territory martyred five soldiers, indicating Kabul’s weakness in controlling the use of its own territory, unlike Pakistan.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s recent remarks on Kabul, though controversial, present some hard facts that one cannot shy away from. On the floor of the parliament, he pointed out towards Kabul and said, ‘If you have no control over the territories, stop calling them part of Afghanistan.’ Moreover, he emphasised that Pakistan has its sovereign right to close the border for its own security and cannot allow the border to be used as a thoroughfare, pointing towards India’s alleged support to terror groups and its nexus with Afghan intelligence. He also lashed out at the Afghans for resisting proper border management mechanisms recommended by Pakistan. The situation is indeed spiralling out of control with no end in sight. Although Pakistan has agreed to open the border for just two days this week, it may need to reopen the border permanently in the long-run for another humanitarian crisis cannot be afforded at any cost along the Durand Line. The state has already hosted millions Afghan refugees since the Soviet-Afghan War in the 1980s, leading to many of them acquiring Pakistani citizenship (albeit illegally in some respects).
