Afghanistan-Pakistan relations: Border controversies as counter-terrorist impediments

When the Taliban regime was overthrown in Afghanistan in late 2001, there was much optimism that, with the anticipated and unprecedented economic, political and military engagement of the international community with Afghanistan, the country would become stable. However, resurgent violence indicates that this is not happening. An important reason for the continuing instability lies in the fact that the international effort has failed to address longstanding disagreements between Afghanistan and Pakistan - the Durand Line border dispute and the Pushtunistan issue - which in turn impairs the two countries' cooperative capacity in the anti-Taliban campaign. Resolution of these disputes would go a long way to help the situation. This article analyses the dynamics of the border dispute, the Pushtunistan issue and the Taliban insurgency as an outgrowth of longstanding historical disputes between Afghanistan and Pakistan.