Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Simmers Again: Taliban Has Opened Durand Line Issue

By: DR TARA KARTHA

Pakistan’s 40-year Afghan policy has been aimed at getting Kabul to recognise the Durand Line.

First there was a lot of shouting and gesticulating. That was followed by some shots, and then mortar fire, and then artillery, all this together with insults galore from both sides. That’s how a recent Pakistan-Afghan border fight looked like. At one level, it was relatively a small incident compared to the firing that erupts on the Line of Control.

On the other, it was very serious indeed, considering that the Taliban just re-opened a can of worms called the Durand Line. For Islamabad, its probably back to the drawing board, and think of Taliban 2.0. or a fresh Islamic State persona.