The inherent conflict between natural and political frontiers are playing out border disputes from Russia

in the north to the Falklands in the south and hundreds of similar conflicts in between which every other decade grasps the attention of the world media for a short while, but most of the time they pass by in silence. The dispute which grab the attention of state leaders at this moment, and which is considered one of the hottest geopolitical topics of the millennium has of course always existed in modern time. What separates this dispute from most others is that it was not the two countries involved which brought back in the spotlight but instead it all started with the incident referred to as the 9/11. The war in Afghanistan has brought back to life the agent border conflict between Afghanistan and its neighbor in the east. Kabul has never recognized the political border with Pakistan and instead claims a natural border created by the settlements of the Pashtun people as the correct frontier between the two countries. The border which is now recognized as the official border stems from the colonial British rule and was established in 1893 after negotiations between the British diplomat H. M. Durand and the ruler of Afghanistan Amir Abdur Rahman Khan. Afghanistan has always been a sought after territory as it was the geographical area which separated the Russian territory from the British India. The British tried to take the land area by force twice in 1839 and 1878, the first and the second anglo-afghan war, but failed miserably. The British diplomat and foreign secretary of British India Henry Mortimer Durand went to Kabul with the goal of creating a buffer zone towards Russia. The solution as mentioned was the politically created Durand line which follows the mountainous region separating Pakistan and Afghanistan. From British perspective the mountains would establish a physical border which would act as a natural defense from a possible invasion from Russia. The British also expanded their territory with the establishment of the Duran line, to also include the Pashtun tribal areas on south side of the mountain, an area which traditionally has been looked upon as a part of Afghanistan. What is interesting is that the Afghan king nor the British never tried to impose the border and the Pashthun people continued to move freely across the border as they have done in all times.

A map of the region during colonial time, the Durand line shown in red.

The Durand line is a deep rooted conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but it has never played out as it has never been imposed. But the conflict now arises in a new light, and is pushed forward b world terrorism, 9/11 and the Taliban. The mountainous area is geographically very difficult to gain control over. The Pakistani army has many failed attempts on its conscious and the US army and its allies might be more successful on the Afghan side, but that does not help much when the enemy operates freely on Pakistani territory. This has lead to a free haven area for Islamic terrorist groups like al Qaida and the Uzbek Islamic extremists. The border situation is by many US officials been said to be the key to resolve the conflict, in other words if the US would be allowed to enter and clear out the region the Taliban would no longer have anywhere to hide.

The essence of the conflict comes down to the Pashtun people. This was the tribal people separated by the politically created Durand line. The brother part of the Pashtuns lives on the Afghan side of the border but a large population became part of what is now Pakistan. Though they are officially a part of Pakistan they operate they operate with a certain extent of self control as the FATA region, federal administrated tribal areas. They are administrated under the governor of the North West Frontier Province in Peshawar which offers health care and educational services, but the security order and control is taken care of by the tribes themselves and selected tribal leaders known as maliks. The Pashtun people do not feel as they are a part of Pakistan, "Pashtuns consider it their own land even though there is also a loyalty to the respective states along with a desire to freely move back and forth."( " Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to Washington). The fact that the Pashtuns have no respect for the politically created Durand line has led to little will to integrate with the Pakistani society. They have created an own enclave of a Pashthun society where the tribal society and the Sharia law controls everyday life. Literacy rate is a as low as 17 percent and there are more than eight thousand people per doctor, compared to roughly 1,500 people per doctor in Pakistan overall. The educational system is mainly muslim madrasses, and Islamic extremist views are growing in the tribal areas making it a recruitment base for terrorist movements. Though the tribes

say they do not support terrorism they are deeply involved with the opium trade which has strong links to Al Qaida and the Taliban. The strong economic linkages between the terrorist groups and the tribal people makes the area a safe haven for terrorist training camps. The Pakistani army has several times tried to take control over the area and clear out the Taliban and extremist Islamic terrorist groups, but the situation is difficult as 20% of the Pakistani army belongs to the Pashtun tribe, and the army has on many occasions refused to fight their own even if they are supporting terrorists.