Yet another complication

Pashtuns press for end to line that makes them Afghans or Pakistanis

Two sets of the same people straddle the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Their division has been a source of unrest and acrimony for decades. Now with violence across the frontier threatening to plunge both countries into turmoil, some of those in the region see unification as the only way forwards. %u201CWe think if we solve this problem we will have a permanent peace in all of Asia,%u201D said Sher Alam Amlawal, an author and self-proclaimed "Afghan nationalist". The border was established in 1893 to create a buffer zone between British Colonial India and Afghanistan. Known as the Durand Line, it split Pashtun communities and artificially created an area that is now described as the most dangerous place in the world. Although the government in Kabul does not accept the boundary, Islamabad does, and calls for it to be redrawn have always been rejected. But here in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, there remains a strong sense that the issue will have to be seriously considered sooner or later if the violence is to end. %u201CWhen the British split Afghanistan they did not split Pashtuns, they split Afghans. We have the same history and the same land and we are all Afghans,%u201D said Mr Amlawal. While the US and Nato frequently complain that insurgents are allowed to easily cross back and forth from Pakistan, they are talking about a frontier that has really existed in name only. Families live on both sides of the line and even today Afghans often continue to travel through border posts without visas.