Questions and concerns with regard to the nature of the National Unity Government’s relations with Pakistan remain as the five-year term of the government is nearing its completion. Soon after its inauguration, the current administration made several attempts to repair the bilateral relations between Kabul and Islamabad. As part of the fence-mending mission, the government, in utter ignorance of the anti-Pakistani sentiments of Afghan people, made a series of concessions to Islamabad that did not serve Afghanistan’s best interests. One of the examples of the concessions was signing an intelligence-sharing deal with Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) known as the main supporter of insurgents fighting Afghan government. The move drew strong reactions in Afghanistan after media outlets came to know about it.
The main ambiguity in Afghan-Pak relations — Kabul’s consent to the installation of barbed wire across the Durand Line– during President Ghani-led administration has not yet been removed. While Kabul rejects the existence of any such accord with Islamabad, its actions and indifference towards Pakistani incursions along the de facto boundary raise questions. Pakistan has unilaterally fenced much of the Durand Line imposed on Afghanistan, and construction work is still ongoing on the remaining part. On Sunday, a clash erupted between Afghan and Pakistani forces in the Shorawak district of southern Kandahar province after Afghan security forces prevented Pakistani troops from erecting a fence along the Durand Line. Following the incident, Pakis¬tani border authorities closed the Friendship Gate in Spin Boldak.
Kandahar Police Chief Gen. Abdul Raziq says he has repeatedly informed the central government of Pakistan’s illegal fencing of the Durand Line, but his calls have so far fallen on deaf ears. Meanwhile, the Pakistani side has complained after the incident that Gen. Raziq doesn’t accept the central government’s decision.
The issue of a potential deal between Kabul and Islamabad in connection with the erection of fence topped with barbed wire along the Durand Line is cloaked in a mystery which the Afghan central government, especially the Presidential Palace, should clear up and put an end to. If the government has really struck an agreement with Pakistan which is totally against the national interests, it has to offer an explanation to the nation as to why it has made a decision that contributes to the recognition of the British colonial-era line that cuts through mainland Afghanistan. However, if such an accord doesn’t exist, it has to come forward, and show to Afghan people and the world by taking practical steps that Pakistan, against all international norms, is building a fence on a line that has no legitimacy.
