Islamabad, Aug 28: Despite recent overtures by Pakistan, Afghanistan has taken the border dispute with its eastern neighbour to the United States for redressal. The Karzai government has approached the US to exercise its pressure on Pakistan to re-demarcate the Durand line, which Islamabad claims to be a settled issue.
The request to the us was made by Afghanistan after the last meeting of the tripartite commission, comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan and US officials, held in Kabul on August 12 in Bagram, Afghanistan.
The tripartite body failed to come up with unanimous recommendations for the resolution of border issues, local daily the nation quoted officials here as saying.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri attended the Kabul meeting and played down the differences over the border incursions after meetings with President Hamid Karzai and his Afghan counterpart Abdullah Abullah.
To strengthen its case that Pakistan has taken over its territory, Afghanistan has acquired a copy of the original agreement of 1893 in which Britain and Afghanistan had agreed on the Durand Line as a border between British India and Afghanistan and forwarded it to the US.
The Afghan government has demanded that the tripartite commission be empowered to resolve the border dispute in line with the Kabul demand to re-demarcate the Durand Line.
"Kabul has been insistent on the re-demarcation of Durand Line in the last two meetings of the tripartite commission despite Pakistan's rejection of the same on the ground that this issue is a closed chapter now," a Pakistani official was quoted as saying. Bureau Report