PAKISTAN’S relations with Afghanistan have remained hostage to Afghan irredentism, which is a consequence of deep-seated historical animosities. The antipathy towards Pakistan was engendered through a false sense of entitlement about areas of Pakistan that in the past had once supposedly been part of Afghanistan. Generations in Afghanistan have been reared on a distorted version of history that regards the Pak-Afghan border as a historical injustice.
Little do these irredentists know that going by that logic Afghanistan has remained part of the Maurya and Mughal empires, while Sikhs, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had advanced up to Peshawar in 1834. Subsequently, the British and Afghans kept sparring over territories across British India and the Afghan frontier, resulting in three Anglo-Afghan wars.
The frontier between British India and Afghanistan was formalised in 1893 through the Durand Line Agreement between Emir Abdur Rahman of Afghanistan and Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, foreign secretary of British India. In fact, it was Emir Abdur Rahman who wanted to formalise Afghanistan’s borders both with Russia and British India.
Abdur Rahman requested the British Indian government to delineate the border between the two states. He specifically requested Mortimer Durand to lead the mission. Following the agreement, joint commissions demarcated the border over several years and thereafter, several treaties were concluded. Each reaffirmed both parties’ commitments to respecting the boundary.
Afghan irredentism has kept emerging with regularity.
During the course of demarcation, Afghanistan gained territory not only from British India but also from Russia and Iran.
As a legatee state of British India, Pakistan inherited the border agreement as per the customary international law principle of uti possidetis juris (new states inherit pre-existing borders). However, Afghanistan’s representative cast the sole dissenting vote against Pakistan’s inclusion in the UN. Though that negative vote was removed after a few weeks, the bad blood of Afghan irredentism continued to plague bilateral ties.
A Loya Jirga declared all previous agreements regarding the international boundary invalid in July 1949, followed by border skirmishes and diplomatic stand-offs. Afghan forces entered Pakistani territory and were repelled after six days. Afghanistan kept providing political and financial support to Pakhtunistan-oriented elements in the 1950s while Afghan prime minister Mohammad Daoud condemned Pakistan’s One Unit arrangement, promising Afghan government support to Pakhtuns in Pakistan. Afghan mobs violated Pakistan’s diplomatic missions at Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar.
Afghan troops in disguise, along with anti-Pakistan tribesmen, entered Bajaur in September 1960 under the direction of prime minister Daoud. Local tribesmen and Frontier Corps scouts initially resisted their advance while regular Pakistani forces, including air force and artillery, beat back Afghan troops, souring relations till 1963.
After the deposition of King Zahir Shah by Daoud in 1973, Afghan intervention in Pakistan became more brazen. Afghanistan openly supported pro-Pakhtunistan elements. Afghanistan under Sardar Daoud also remained a veritable support base for the Baloch insurgency. Despite maximum support to Afghans in their freedom struggle during the Soviet invasion (1979-89), Afghan irredentism kept emerging with metronomic regularity, irrespective of the regime in power.
From 1996 to 2001, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan kept harbouring terrorist organisations including Al Qaeda, ETIM, and IMU. These groups influenced Pakistan’s ex-Fata region as well. The armed groups based in Afghan territory kept conducting cross-border attacks against Pakistan from 2002 to 2006, encouraging the rise of terrorist entities like TTP. When Pakistan finally started fencing its border in 2017, Afghan troops targeted Pakistani forces at Torkham, repeating similar actions at Parachinar, Chaman, Bajaur and Chitral.
Pakistan had welcomed the Taliban regime after the 2021 US withdrawal in good neighbourly spirit, offering humanitarian and economic support at a time when most of the world was treating it as a pariah regime. The Taliban regime in turn gave impetus to anti-Pakistan terrorists like the TTP holed up in Afghanistan. In 2021, terrorist incidents saw a 42 per cent rise, owing to the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and the subsequent release of hardened militants from various Afghan jails. From 128 terrorist incidents in 2021 to over 1,200 in 2025, there has been a steady rise in Taliban-regime enabled terrorist violence in Pakistan.
Despite continued positive engagement by Pakistan, the Taliban regime has displayed obduracy and non-cooperation on the counterterrorism front by using terrorism as a low-cost option for leverage.
The writer holds a PhD from Nust.
Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026
