Pak Afghan Border Problems and its Inferences on Pushtoon Both Sides Residents

Abstract

It is widely accepted that Pakistan is situated at a very important strategic location on world map. Russia, China and Central Asian countries in north, Middle east in south west and far east countries in east of Pakistan makes this country strategically very important among world nations. Because of its valuable strategic location, most importantly its sea connection to the central Asian states, China and Russia which connects trade, oil and gas routs to the rest of the world through warm waters increases the importance of the country at no-match level. As every big fortune brings a trouble, this strategic importance brings a lot of troubles for the country. After world war II, Soviet Union needed to access warm waters for its uninterrupted connectivity with the world through sea routs. For that Soviets need a good sea port, the options they had were limited. Either they would connect through Chabahar port, Iran or either they would touch Baluchistan region of Pakistan. Comparatively, they found Pakistan an easy target aimed their invasion to Afghanistan as their direct neighbor and Pakistan as a weak state and a sandwich between India and Russia through Afghanistan. Besides this scenario, since the foundation of Pakistan, mismanagement at Pakistan Afghanistan border has been a reason of conflicts. A well secure and managed border can bring stability in economic and security situation of the region. After Soviet invasion, federally administered tribal areas (FATA) became the heaven of militant groups and the symbol of resistance against Soviet forces. Since that time, cross border movement of militant groups is a huge security concern for both countries. Available data also suggests that Pakistan has suffered huge economic and security costs because of the mismanagement of its western border with Afghanistan. In order to maintain peace and stability in the region, Pakistan has proposed and started construction of fences and infrastructure in 2016 including gateways for trade and cross border activities of complex socio-economic tribal system on the both sides of Pak-Afghanistan border. These steps significantly reduced cross border terrorist activities.