Pakistan, Afghanistan need an effective border management system to ease movement of people, goods

In Islamabad’s bilateral relations with Kabul and in the quest for durable peace, stability and connectivity in Afghanistan and the region, harmonious management of the border dynamics between the two countries is of immense significance. The experience suggests that border management can only be truly effective if security as well as arrangements for the movement of peoples and goods are undertaken along all the borders with the spirit of cooperation and real time coordination between the two sides. However, so far the two countries have not been able to evolve a border management system responsive to the needs of the people living on two sides of the frontier.

Over 2,600 kilometer long Pakistan-Afghanistan border traverses through a belt hosting a population of around 50 million people living along and across this frontier with deep-rooted familial, social and economic linkages. Historically, the border has provided for large-scale daily movements of up to or more than 50,000 people per day on account of family contacts, business, medical facilities and education.

Since 1970s, and particularly with the Soviet intervention of Afghanistan the Pakistan-Afghanistan border belt has become a theatre of armed conflict, Jihad, insurgency and cross-border terrorist movements. This has affected the lives of the people of the two countries, mostly the Pushtoon and the Baloch tribes living there. The trade, transit and commercial activity across the border has also suffered a negative blow due to the infusion of cross-border security dimension. It is imperative for Pakistan and Afghanistan to restore the society and economy based on cross-border interaction.

Over the past two decades, the divergence in perspectives of the two sides regarding managing this border has actually grown. Realistic adjustments are needed mutually to address the gaps and contradictions. In the case of Afghanistan there has been a deliberate effort to build a strong public sentiment to challenge the legality of the border which is recognised by the international community. On the movement of people, successive Afghan governments have demanded free, unchecked and undocumented movement of Afghans into Pakistan, but Afghan authorities have maintained a restrictive approach towards issuing visas to visitors from Pakistan.

Since 2001, Pakistan has come under increasing pressure for securing the border as the US and NATO coalition continued to allege that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan (TTA) was launching attacks in Afghanistan using Pakistani soil and Pakistani support. Therefore, in 2016 Pakistan started fencing a large vulnerable portion of the border. These measures naturally also created hurdles for free movement of tribes living on both sides. The fencing was generally resisted by Afghans, but barring some incidents it was allowed to continue until Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

During the two decades of presence of the international coalition in Afghanistan, India invested heavily there to de-stabilise this border. Through its close contacts with the then Afghan intelligence agency, NDS, and Indian Consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar, financial and logistical support was provided to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Baloch elements for carrying out violence and terrorist activity in Pakistan. Apart from other evidence of Indian involvement, closer to August 15, 2021 when the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan became imminent, India quietly closed down its Embassy and Consulates and withdrew all its officials from Afghanistan and re-opened its diplomatic mission only in June 2022.

Thus, as a result of developments in Afghanistan in the past two decades, Pakistan has adopted, or forced to adopt, a security-centered approach in dealing with the Afghan border which has close people-to-people and economic dimensions. Almost 90 per cent of the part of the border which Pakistan had planned to fence has been fenced. A border which until 2001 had no or very limited military deployment on the Pakistan side, today is regarded as one of the most heavily guarded borders in the world. The number of crossings being used for movement of people and trade are limited. The trade and transit volume flowing through this border, which should be to the tune of over $ 20 billion annually, has been hovering around a couple of billion dollars. The crossing points for people are infested with heavy security imprints and on the whole present an undignified and sub-human picture.

Since coming back into power in Afghanistan last year, the Afghan Taliban interim government has adopted a stand challenging many of the measures Pakistan has taken to secure the border, including its fencing. Earlier this year, a number of isolated incidents along the border were also reported where some Afghan security personnel or other groups tried to disrupt work relating to fencing and other constructions along the border on the Pakistan side. Even more importantly, Afghan Taliban leadership and institutions have not been able to alleviate Pakistan’s concerns regarding TTP shelters inside Afghanistan in the provinces close to the Pakistan border from where they have continued to target Pakistani civilian and security agencies’ personnel on a regular basis.

The two countries have been engaged in addressing these issues through a Joint Border Coordination Committee comprising relevant security officials and is chaired on Pakistan side by Special Envoy Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq and on the Afghan side by a Deputy Minister. While the two sides have agreed to keep these issues out of the media glare and deal these matters through institutional channels, at public as well as official levels the unease in Pakistan has continued to grow at the recent resurgence in the activities of TTP in Swat and some other areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Unfortunately, the situation seems to be exacerbating by every day.

The people living on both sides of this border, majority of whom are Pushtoon, want that Pakistan and Afghanistan should not allow their border dynamics to continue to be dominated by cross-border security and terrorism threats. They need the two countries’ focus on the larger picture for nurturing a comprehensive relationship rooted in trade, transit, economic integration and regional connectivity. This is important to prevent recurrence of another disastrous and chaotic decade like the 1990s – for Afghanistan as well as the adjoining region.

Following practical measures are required for transforming the cross-border challenges into mutually beneficial opportunities for interaction:

An agreement should be reached for zero tolerance on terrorism, sheltering terrorist groups and their cross-border movements. An approach to successfully deal with the TTP and other such groups (for instance ETIM and IMU) is the litmus test. The Afghan interim government and the Afghan Taliban leadership must take visionary decisions of discarding their past relations with such groups in the vital future interests of Afghanistan and the region. Pakistan has to ensure that a holistic approach is adopted for dealing with military as well as social and political dimensions of the issue.

Developing a dignified and facilitative system of crossing of people from this border, particularly Afghans coming into Pakistan, is also necessary for stable bilateral relations. The border crossings should also provide an efficient mechanism for trade and transit vehicles. The primitive ways in which these border crossings are being managed cannot support objectives of increasing economic cooperation.

The countries of the region should develop consensus on promoting East- West and North-South connectivity through Afghanistan in all directions. Afghanistan’s connectivity on the one hand with Central Asia and on the other with South Asia is the recipe for realizing the goal of durable peace and stability in Afghanistan and achieving regional economic integration. Mega projects like TAPI, CASA-1000 and trans-Afghan railways and transport corridors await responsible decisions by regional countries.

If there are any lessons from the history, this is the moment to be seized by Pakistan and Afghanistan not to let their border enter into another phase of terrorism and violence. People of both countries want the days of peace, friendship and interaction to return.

The writer is a former ambassador of Pakistan to Afghanistan