Afghanistan--Pakistan relations began in August 1947 after British India was partitioned into the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan and Afghanistan are usually described by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as "inseparable brothers", which is due to historical, religious, and ethnolinguistical connections by the majority Pashtun people of Afghanistan, as well as trade and other ties. Both neighbouring states are Islamic republics and part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Relations between the two countries have been negatively affected by issues related to the Durand Line, the 1978--present war (i.e. Mujahideen, Afghan refugees, Taliban insurgency and border skirmishes), including water and the growing influence of India in Afghanistan. However, the two states are working together to find solutions to these problems. This includes possible defense cooperation and intelligence sharing as well as further enhancing the two-way trade and abolishment of visas for diplomats from the two nations. Southern and eastern Afghanistan is predominately a Pashto-speaking region, like the adjacent Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and northern Balochistan regions in Pakistan. This entire area is inhabited by the indigenous Pashtuns who belong to different Pashtun tribes. The Pashtuns were known historically as ethnic Afghans and lived in this region for thousands of years, since at least the 1st millennium BC. The Durand Line border was established after the 1893 Durand Line Agreement between Mortimer Durand of colonial British India and Amir Abdur Rahman Khan of Afghanistan for fixing the limit of their respective spheres of influence. The single-page agreement, which contains seven short articles, was signed by Durand and Khan, agreeing not to exercise political interference beyond the frontier line between Afghanistan and what was then colonial British India. Pakistan inherited this agreement after its partition from India in 1947 but there has never been a formal agreement or ratification between Islamabad and Kabul. The agreement did not put a restriction on the free movement of the native Pashtun people who are used to travelling freely between different places since ancient times, especially during season changes. Due to this and other reasons, the Afghan government has decided not to formally accept the poorly-marked Durand Line as the international border between the two states, claiming that the Durand Line Agreement has been void in the past. This complicated issue is very sensitive in both countries. The Afghan government worries that if it ever ratifies the agreement, it will permanently divide the 50 million Pashtuns and thus create a backlash in Afghanistan. Pakistan feels that the border issue had been resolved before its birth in 1947, and it too fears a revolt from the warring tribes which could eventually bring the state down as it was done to the Persian Empire by the Hotaki dynasty in 1722 or when Ahmad Shah Durrani unified the Pashtuns later to topple the Mughal Empire of India. This unmanagable border has always served as the main trade route between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent, especially for supplies into Afghanistan. Contemporary issues Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan began deteriorating in the 1970s after Pakistan supported rebels such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Ahmad Shah Massoud, Haqqanis, and others against the governments of Afghanistan. In April 1978, Afghan President Daoud Khan was assassinated in Kabul during the Saur Revolution. This was followed by the execution of Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in April 1979 and the assassination of Afghan President Nur Muhammad Taraki in September 1979. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States joined Pakistan to counter Soviet influence and advance its own interests in the region. In turn, Afghan, Indian and Soviet intelligence agencies played their role by supporting Al-Zulfiqar, a Pakistani terrorist group responsible for the March 1981 hijacking of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane. Al-Zulfiqar was a Pakistani organization "formed in 1977 by Mir Murtaza Bhutto, the eldest son of former Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who was deposed by a military coup in July ... Al-Zulfikar's goal was to overthrow the military regime that ousted Bhutto." After March 1981 Al Zulfiqar claimed no further attacks. The Bhutto family and Pakistani military dictator Zia-ul-Haq shared a common enemy as Zia was the one supporting attacks against the Afghan government

• published: 31 Oct 2013
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