--- description: Pakistan has begun work on a security fence that traces its mountainous northwest border with Afghanistan, Islamabad announced Saturday title: Pakistan Has Started Fencing Off Its Border With Afghanistan image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b8ed018a5fc44f4/6988bffa7cdbaca7f4d579d6/gettyimages-649316474.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pakistan](/tag/pakistan/) ## Pakistan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pakistan Has Started Fencing Off Its Border With Afghanistan by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 27, 2017 9:18 AM CUT  Vehicles en route to Afghanistan line up near the Pakistani-Afghan border in northwest Pakistan's Torkham on March 7, 2017 Vehicles en route to Afghanistan line up near the Pakistani-Afghan border in northwest Pakistan's Torkham on March 7, 2017Sidique—Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 27, 2017 9:18 AM CUT Pakistan has begun work on a fence that will trace its mountainous northwest border with Afghanistan, Islamabad announced Saturday. “A better managed, secure and peaceful border is in mutual interest of both brotherly countries who have given phenomenal sacrifices in war against terrorism,” Pakistan’s army chief, General Qamar Bajwa, said in a statement from the country’s tribal hinterlands, the _Wall Street Journal_ [reports](https://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-starts-building-fence-along-border-with-afghanistan-1490555484 "undefined"). But instead, a border fence could further inflame tensions between Pakistan and its landlocked northeasterly neighbor. For one thing, Afghanistan disputes the legitimacy of much of the border, which was drawn up under British colonial rule; for another, each side accuses the other of harboring terrorists. The measure follows a spate of terrorist [attacks](http://time.com/4679930/lahore-explosion-gulberg-terrorism/ "undefined") in recent weeks that have killed more than 100 people on Pakistani soil. Islamabad blames these on militants that it says have relocated across its porous border, which it closed for more than a month in February, citing “security reasons.” Meanwhile, Kabul had long accused Pakistan of offering safe haven for the Afghan Taliban and the allied Haqqani network. It’s a charge with which Washington concurs, reports the _WSJ_. “Building a fence will not help solve the problem, but will only create more tension,” General Dawlat Waziri, a spokesperson of the Afghan Ministry of Defense, told the _WSJ_. “To counter terrorism, Pakistan needs to deny sanctuaries to terrorist groups, stop financing, training and helping them.” \[[_WSJ_](https://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-starts-building-fence-along-border-with-afghanistan-1490555484 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4713582/pakistan-afghanistan-border-fence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4713582/pakistan-afghanistan-border-fence/"},"headline":"Pakistan Has Started Fencing Off Its Border With Afghanistan","datePublished":"2017-03-27T09:18:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:02:39.493Z","description":"Each side accuses the other of harboring terrorists","url":"https://time.com/4713582/pakistan-afghanistan-border-fence/","keywords":["Pakistan","Afghanistan","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b8ed018a5fc44f4/6988bffa7cdbaca7f4d579d6/gettyimages-649316474.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joseph Hincks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b8ed018a5fc44f4/6988bffa7cdbaca7f4d579d6/gettyimages-649316474.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"PAKISTAN-TORKHAM-AFGHANISTAN-BORDER-REOPEN","caption":"PAKISTAN-TORKHAM-AFGHANISTAN-BORDER-REOPEN","creditText":"Sidique—Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pakistan/","name":"Pakistan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4713582/pakistan-afghanistan-border-fence/","name":"Pakistan Has Started Fencing Off Its Border With Afghanistan"}}]}] ```