The Durand Line is a 2,640-kilometre international border that currently separates Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is a concept that originated as a political agreement, the Durand Line Agreement, signed on November 12, 1893, between Sir Henry Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat, and Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan. The line was created to fix the limits of their respective spheres of influence and establish a buffer zone for the British Indian Empire against Russian expansion during the "Great Game". The single-page agreement contains seven short articles, including a commitment that neither side would exercise interference in the territories beyond the line on the other's side.
The line was slightly modified and ratified by the Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Upon the partition of British India in 1947, the newly created country of Pakistan inherited the agreement and considers the line to be a settled international border. However, no Afghan government, including the current Taliban administration, has ever officially recognized the Durand Line, declaring the border and the agreements defining it as void because they were imposed by the British. The line cuts through the traditional homeland of the Pashtun and Baloch ethnic groups, politically dividing communities with shared culture and language, which fuels the long-running dispute and the movement for an independent Pashtunistan.
A significant recent change is Pakistan's decision, starting in 2017, to fence the entire line, which has physically split communities and led to increased hostilities and border clashes with Afghan forces. This fencing and the requirement of a visa and passport for all cross-border movement at official points like Torkham have enforced the line as a de facto international border, despite Afghanistan's continued non-recognition.