The perilous ramifications of Kabul’s infirm stance on Durand Line

Pakistan is reportedly receiving funds from the United States to build a fence topped with barbed wire along the Durand Line. According to reports, Pakistan has completed most of the construction work of the fencing. However, the US assistance for the project has provoked reactions. Former President Hamid Karzai has said the United States has violated Afghanistan’s territorial integrity by funding the project. In a press statement, President Karzai has insisted that on the one side, Washington is considering itself an ally of Afghan people but on the other side, it is violating the territorial integrity of Afghanistan. He has condemned the US support for the project, as it is separating Afghan people on both sides of the colonial-era, de facto frontier. Afghans have not recognized, and will never recognize Durand Line drawn by the British Indian colony, the statement adds.
Installing barbed wire on Durand Line is politically and legally a controversial issue, but the National Unity Government does not take a serious stance towards it. Except in some instances where government officials have rejected any secret deal with Pakistan over Durand Line, the government has not yet done what it should have done with regard to unilateral Pakistani actions along the Durand Line.
Now may not be the right time to decide the fate of Durand Line, but it is the core responsibility of the National Unity Government not to remain indifferent to sensitive national issues like the territorial integrity. The infirm government stance will serve as a proof in the future that can undermine the territorial claim of Afghans as their national cause. In the future, Pakistan can use Afghan government’s inertia against Afghanistan. Therefore, Afghan government should take a serious stance against Pakistani incursions to keep the national cause alive.
Presently, it is not logical to expect the Afghan side to demolish the arbitrary line drawn by the British colony at the heart of Pashtoon-Afghan homeland, but it is the joint onus of the government and politicians to at least keep the cause alive until it is settled fairly and fundamentally. If the government continues taking a weak stance on the issue, it will gradually give Pakistan more room to lobby for the recognition of the frontier as an official border. Any indifference towards the issue of Durand Line is a historic mistake that will never be forgiven by the future generations.