Border Fencing and Diplomacy: Pakistan’s Strategies toward Afghanistan and Iran

Abstract

This article examines Pakistan's significant foreign policy shift towards border hardening, manifested in the comprehensive fencing of its western frontiers with Afghanistan and Iran. For decades, these borders were characterized by a high degree of porosity, underpinning a security doctrine of "strategic depth." The recent, capital-intensive projects to erect physical barriers represent a paradigm shift in the nation's strategic calculus. The central thesis of this article is that while ostensibly similar security projects, Pakistan's bordering strategies and the associated cross-border diplomacy on the Afghan and Iranian frontiers are fundamentally divergent. The approach towards Afghanistan is characterized by unilateral securitization and diplomatic contestation rooted in historical sovereignty disputes, whereas the approach towards Iran is marked by cautious security cooperation and economic pragmatism, despite intermittent friction. Through a qualitative, comparative case study analysis of the Durand Line and the Goldsmid Line fencing projects, this article explores the drivers and implications of these divergent strategies. The analysis reveals that historical context, the specific nature of security threats, and the quality of bilateral relationships have compelled Pakistan to adopt two distinct models of border management, challenging the notion of a monolithic western border policy. This research provides a nuanced comparative analysis of a major development in South Asian geopolitics, contributing to the literature on border studies, foreign policy analysis, and regional security by deconstructing the complex interplay between physical infrastructure, national security, and international diplomacy.

Keywords: Pakistan, Border Fencing, Foreign Policy, Afghanistan, Iran, Durand Line, Securitization, Border Diplomacy, Strategic Depth