THE DURAND LINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000100140005-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: July 1, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

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Copy No. 9.
GEOGRAPHIC SUPPORT PROJECT
DU .1NE
July 1961
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND REPORTS
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WARNING
This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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GEOGRAPHIC SUPPORT PROJECT
THE DURAND LINE
July 1961
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Research and Reports
C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
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THE DURAND ran
The Durand Line is named after the British Col. Mortimer Durand,
who in 1893 successfully negotiated a frontier agreement between
Afghanistan and India. This Line was unchallenged as the legal political
boundary until 1947 when, with the partition of the subcontinent into
India and Pakistan, Afghanistan rejected the Line as a boundary. The
Afghan rejection is based on the premise that the Durand Agreement, which
established the Durand Line, lapsed when the British transferred control
to Pakistan in 1947.
The Durand Agreement did not describe the Durand Line as a boundary.
In explanation of this fact Sir Olaf Caroe, a noted authority on the
problem, remarks as follows:
It is true that the Agreement did not describe the line
as the boundary of India, but as the frontier of the
Aniris (Abd-ur?Rahman] domain and the line beyond which
neither side would exercise influence. This was because
the British Government did not intend to absorb the
tribes into their administrative system, only to extend
their own [British], and exclude the Amirts, authority
from the territory east and south of the line. In the
international aspect this was of no account, for the
Mar had renounced sovereignty beyond the line.*
* Caroe, Olaf:. The Pathans; 550 B.C. - A.D. 1957; London, 1958, p. 382.
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The Durand Line does not extend the full distance of the boundary
between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The western terminus of the line is
the junction of the Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan borders (see accompanying
map). The eastern terminus is the junction of the Afghanistan-Pakistan-
Jammu and Kashmir borders. From the eastern terminus of the Line eastward
to the junction of the Afghanistan-China-Jammu and Kashmir borders the
boundary is undefined by any agreement. Most of the Durand Line has been
demarcated on the ground. The entire stretch between the western terminus
of the line and a point northwest of ParachinEr, as well as a small
sector in the vicinity of the Khyber Pass, are demarcated; the remainder
is undemarcated.
Of and by itself the Durand Line has been the source of only minor
disagreements between Afghanistan and Pakistan. While Afghanistan has
unilaterally rejected the Line as a boundary and Pakistan still recognises
it, the Line continues to function as a typical boundary in this part of
the world. The boundary situation is further complicated by the fact
that a major territorial and ethnic problem area -- Pushtunistan -- lies
astride the Durand Line. Afghanistan would be happy to carve a new state,
created out of the Pushtun tribal lands lying in Pakistan east of the
Durand Line,while retaining those Pushtun areas in Afghanistan west of
the Line. In spite of protestation to the contrary, it is possible that
Afghanistan may want to annex such a newly created state. The minimum
area of Pushtunistan would embrace most if not all of the lands of the
Pushtun tribes now residing in Pakistan -- the very area over which
Afghanistan renounced sovereignty in 1893. The maximum area would include,
in addition, all of Pakistani Baluchistan. An independent Pushtunistan
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?
would weaken Pakistan and place a new state at a principal gateway to
the Indian subcontinent.
Friction over the PUebtunistan issue has occurred along several
sectors of the Durand Line, both demarcated and undemarcated, on one or
both sides of the Line. Over the years the Chief area of concern has
been the Mbhmand tribal area Where the Durand Line divides the Mbhmand
clans owing allegiance to Afghanistan from those owing allegiance to
Pakistan (before 1947 to British India). Prior to 1947, Britain had
offered to rectify the Line in this area in a manner that she felt was
favorable to Afghanistan. At the time, Afghanistan rejected the offer
and since then has bad no interest in redefining and demarcating a line
that she no longer recognises as a boundary.
Conclusion
The Durand Line has been a legal boundary for 67 years. Of itself
the Line appears to offer little opportunity for leverage against either
country. On the other band the complex Pushtunistan problem, mentioned
only briefly in this report, might offer a variety of opportunities for
pressure.
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USSR
THE DURAND LINE
western terminus
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Durand Line
Pakistan-Jammu and Kashmir
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