Ḥashshāshīn;3533420 said:
I don't see what's to discuss. Durand line IS the De-facto border. What are the reasons the Afghans saying again?
Its not just Afghan but Pashtuns on both side of border...even Taliban do not recognize the durrand line. ---ok so I can not post the link before making 15 post. I will post the link of Taliban stating all the Pashton area are part of Afghanistan once I reach 15 post.
Its a legal issue here...
· After the treaty of Gandamak (1879) Afghanistan was no more a sovereign state.
· The Anglo?Afghan Treaty of 1893 was got signed under duress and, therefore the line drawn pursuant to that treaty was invalid;
· Amir Abdur Rahman in his autobiography (English edition of Sultan Muhammad Khan, Vol. Second, pp 157-158 declares: “ As to these frontier tribes known by the name of Yaghistan, if they were included in my dominions I should be able to make them fight against any enemy of England and myself…. But if you should cut them out of my dominions, they will neither be of any use to you nor to me: you will always be engaged in fighting and troubles with them, and they will always go on plundering. In your cutting away from me these frontier tribes...you will make me weak, and my weakness is injurious to your Government”.
· Before and after the signing of the treaty, the British recognized a special interest and influence among the Pashtun tribes, east of the Durand Line;
· In any case, the Durand Line was not conceived as an international boundary by either party, but simply as “a line demarcating British and Afghan zones of influence”;
· The five articles of the Rawalpindi Peace Treaty (not a friendship treaty) [August 8, 1919] called for the withdrawal of British troops and the cessation of British subsidies and stopping the flow of Afghan war materials through India. It is interesting that the treaty made no mention of Afghan sovereignty or independence. On the insistence of the Afghan delegation a rider (letter) to the effect that it had been implied was attached to the treaty by Mr. Hamilton Grant (The British Plenipotentiary). The letter ran as follows: ?
· "...the said treaty and this letter leave Afghanistan officially free and independent in its internal and external affairs. Moreover, this war has cancelled all previous Treaties".
S· The Anglo?Afghan treaty of peace was intended to be followed by a period of six months during which Amanullah was to be on probation. During the six months probation, the British required of Afghan Amir:
· The exclusion of Bolshevik emissaries from Afghanistan;
· the dismissal of Indian revolutionaries from Afghan territory;
· and no intrigue with the Frontier tribes.
mi· But unexpectedly the Amir's attitude was not changed and he flouted these conditions in order to show that "peace without friendship is impossible". Ultimately, four meetings were held from I7th to 24th April, I920, between the Afghans and the British in Mussourie. At the first meeting Mahmud Tarzi stated: ?
· ii) With regard to the tribes on the Indian frontier which are connected by race, religion and language with the Afghans, it was of utmost importance that the British Government should declare its intentions towards the tribes and the tracts of the country occupied by them;
· The treaty was signed on 22 November, I92I between Afghanistan and Great Britain. Article 11 of the said treaty recognize the right of Afghanistan to express herself on the future of frontier people by stating: “ the two High contracting parties having mutually satisfied themselves each regarding the goodwill of the other, and especially regarding their benevolent intentions towards the tribes residing close to their respective boundaries, hereby undertake each to inform the other in future any military operation of major importance, which may appear necessary for the maintenance of order among the frontier tribes residing within their respective spheres, before the commencement of such operations”
· Article 14 of the treaty of November 1922, states that the provisions of the treaty “ shall remain in force for three years” from the date of its signature (2nd November 1921). It states further that “in case neither of the High contracting parties should have notified twelve months before the expiration of the said three years the intention to terminate it. It shall remain binding until the expiration of one year from the day on which either of the High contracting parties shall have denounced it”.
· It should be remembered that in the first place, this treaty constituted the basis of Anglo-Afghan relations up to the time when the British left India. Therefore it is obvious that with the British departure from India, one of the contracting parties ceased to exist. In the second place, it is not a treaty of unlimited duration and the existence of the time limit indicates that it could be terminated, when so desired, by one of the contracting parties even if the other contracting party still maintained some authority.
· Subsequent ratification of the 1893 agreement contained reservations preserving Afghanistan's interests east of the Durand Line;
li· In any case, Afghanistan had repudiated all treaties which denied to it the right to exert this influence among all the Pashtuns; [The Afghan government convened a Loya?Jirga or Grand Assembly (which included the National Assembly) in Kabul on July 26,1949 and formally and specifically abrogated the Durand Agreement of 1893, the Anglo?Afghan Pact of 1905, the Treaty of Rawalpindi 1919, the Anglo?Afghan Treaty of 1921 and any other treaties which referred to the status of the Pashtuns.]
es· The 1947 plebiscite did not satisfy the requirement for self?determination because:
1. it was boycotted by a substantial part of the Pashtuns;
2. it was a unilateral step taken without Afghan consultation or consent;
3. it provided the population with only two choices: join India or join Pakistan, whereas it should also have provided options for joining Afghanistan or independence; the approval of the tribal jirgas was similarly obtained by offering as choices only a "yes" or "no" ratification of the plebiscite decision to join Pakistan.
· Afghanistan further argued that Pakistan was not a successor state to Britain but an entirely new state carved out of British India. Whatever, treaty rights existed were therefore extinguished.