Pakistan will continue fencing the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the military said on Wednesday, days after Taliban fighters destroyed border fences at multiple locations along the Durand Line, the internationally recognized border between the two countries. However, Afghanistan doesn't recognize the Line.   

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Major General Babar Iftikhar, director-general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said the blood of martyrs has gone into erecting those fences and the exercise will continue as planned. 

Drawn by British Civil Servant Sir Henry Mortimer Durand in 1893, the Durand Line divides ethnic Pashtuns on both sides of the border. Pakistan shares an almost 2,600 km long border with Afghanistan, and most of it has been fenced in recent years by Pakistan unilaterally. 

However, no Afghan rulers, including the Taliban, have ever accepted the Durand Line as the border.

In recent weeks, controversy grew as several Taliban fighters were seen destroying the fencing and threatening Pakistani soldiers involved in the exercise. The videos of the Taliban destroying fencing went viral in Pakistan, creating huge outrage. [read more]

In a relatively mild response last week, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the issue will be solved through diplomatic channels between the two countries. 

On the other hand Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said, “The issue of Durand Line is still an unresolved one, while the construction of fencing itself creates rifts between a nation spread across both sides of the border. It amounts to dividing a nation.” 

He further added, “The Durand Line has divided one nation along both sides. We don’t want it all. We want a rational and logical solution to the problem.” 
 
The statement by Mujahid, who is also the Taliban’s deputy minister for information and culture, is one of the strongest statements the group gave after it came to power in August. 

On Wednesday, the Pakistan military spokesperson responded to these statements and said, “The fence on the Pak-Afghan border is needed to regulate security, border crossing, and trade. The purpose of this is not to divide the people, but to protect them.”

"We are totally focused, and under the western border management regime, the work that is underway will be completed in some time," he said, adding almost 94 percent of fencing has been completed. 

(SAM)