Kabul, Oct 21: A recent ceasefire has brought calm between Afghanistan and Pakistan after deadly clashes. The truce follows a spike in violence where each side blamed the other for attacks. However, a deeper, older conflict immediately resurfaced a bitter disagreement over the border that divides them, known as the Durand Line.

Just after the peace deal was announced, Afghanistan's Taliban leadership strongly rejected the very idea of this border. Their Defence Minister, Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, called the Durand Line "imaginary." He accused Pakistan of spreading a "false narrative" and stated that the use of the word 'border' was not part of their agreement. "This is a matter of national identity," Mujahid declared, insisting the Afghan nation itself would decide the issue.

The protest was so forceful that Qatar, the mediator, was forced to edit its official statement.

The Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reissued its announcement, carefully removing the phrase "on the border between the two brotherly countries" and replacing it with "between the two brotherly countries."

The heart of the problem is history. The Durand Line was established in the Hindu Kush in 1893 by a British civil servant, Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, and the then Afghan Emir, Abdur Rahman Khan. This agreement created a 2,600 km line, dividing tribal lands and splitting the Pashtun population in two.

While Pakistan inherited this line as its official border after its independence in 1947, Afghanistan never accepted it. Afghans have long claimed lands on the Pakistani side. Pakistan, however, insists on the border and has recently fenced it to control movement.

The recent fighting was triggered by Pakistan's accusation that militant groups, like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP), operate from safe havens in Afghanistan. While the guns are now silent, the unresolved dispute over the Durand Line ensures that peace between the two neighbours remains on shaky ground.

(The article is compiled by Sai)