SILK ROAD JOURNAL

Arguably the most contentious international border in the world today is one that defies common sense. I am referring to the Durand Line, the 2,640 kilometer-long border that, de facto, divides Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was drawn in up in 1893 by the British Colonial Office to serve the geopolitical interests of the British Crown at the time. With no intrinsic geophysical distinctions, it appears to be another arbitrary “line in the sand”, similar to how the Middle East was partitioned by British and French colonial powers in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Comparable to volatile national boundaries in the Middle East, the Durand Line has been a catalyst for violent ethnic and tribal conflicts for more than a century.  Click the hyperlink to read the full article  Silk Road Journal Dec 2018