Pakistan, Oct. 23 -- Empires rise and fall, maps evolve, but borders often endure beyond the ambitions that created them. The Durand Line, stretching about 2,640 km between Pakistan and Afghanistan, is one such frontier, born of treaties, diplomacy, and the rival empires that shaped the region. The Afghan state took form in 1747 when Ahmad Shah Durrani, a former general under Nadir Shah of Persia, united the Pashtun tribes and established the Durrani Empire. From its inception, Afghanistan stood at the heart of competing powers, Persia to the west, Russia to the north, and British India to the east, becoming the central arena of the 19th-century 'Great Game' between Britain and Russia for control of Central Asia.

The Second Anglo-Afghan ...