Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border
The Afghanistan–Turkmenistan border is 804 km (500 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Iran to the tripoint with Uzbekistan.[1]
Description
The border starts at the tripoint with Iran on the
The border traverses a thinly populated area consisting mostly of desert and some hills, except for the easternmost section where the Amu Darya is paralleled by a road and railway on the Turkmen side.
History
The border was inherited from the old Soviet Union-Afghan border, which largely took its current shape during the 19th century Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia known as the Great Game. With the Russian Empire having conquered the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara, and with the British Empire controlling the British Raj, the two powers agreed to leave Afghanistan as an independent buffer state between them.[2]
In 1873 Britain and Russia agreed on a rough formulation of the border, with the Amu Darya declared to be the border going east from the vicinity of the village of Khwaja Salar to Lake Zorku, with the Wakhan Corridor to remain in Afghanistan. The western section of the border (i.e. the bulk of the modern Afghan-Turkmen boundary) was to be determined at a later date by a boundary commission.[2]
Tensions mounted as the Russians expanded further into what is now Turkmenistan in the early 1880s, reaching a crisis with the
The easternmost section of the border (now forming part of the Afghan-Tajik boundary) was not finally delimited until 1893–95, with the Afghans agreeing to waive any claims to lands north the Amu Darya. This agreement also stipulated the position of the land border in section east of
In 1921 a Soviet-Afghan treaty was signed whereby Russia agreed "to hand over to Afghanistan the frontier districts which belonged to the latter in the last century, observing the principles of justice and self-determination of the population inhabiting the same." However this treaty was never implemented, and was explicitly annulled by the Frontier Agreement of 1946, which kept the boundary as it was, with riverine islands to be subsequently allocated by a joint commission.[2]
In 1979 Soviet troops of the
There have been a number of incidents in recent years connected to the
After the Taliban seized many regions in Afghanistan in 2021, a number of Afghan military and civilians crossed the border into Turkmenistan.[8]
Incidents
- There were several incidents along the border in 2014. In February Turkmen border guards killed a militant who crossed the border illegally and captured two others. In retaliation three Turkmen border guards were killed later that month. In May that year three Turkmen guards were killed by an armed group crossing the border from Ghormach District, Afghanistan.[9][10]
- In October 2015, several Taliban fighters were chased onto an island in the Amu Darya by Afghan forces, forcing Turkmenistan's border security to prevent them entering their territory. This incident occurred a few weeks after Turkmenistan strongly protested Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev expressing concern about the security situation along the Afghan-Turkmen frontier.
- In 2017, four fighters believed to be affiliated with the Islamic State were apprehended crossing illegally into Turkmenistan.[11]
- On 3 January 2021, skirmish at the Afghan-Turkmen border between the Taliban forces and the Turkmen border guards. The incident was reported by Hilal Balkhi, head of the Jowzjan province's department of culture and information, quoted by Aamaj News. It is alleged that three days ago, Turkmen border troops killed one Afghan civilian and beat another. Today, when Taliban detachments arrived at the border to check security, the Turkmen side allegedly fired at their positions. The Taliban returned fire, and the militants suffered no losses.[12]
Border crossings
Settlements near the border
Afghanistan
Turkmenistan
- Serhetabat
- Bashbeden
- Khodzhali
- Ymamnazar
- Bosaga
See also
References
- ^ CIA World Factbook - Afghanistan, 8 September 2018
- ^ a b c d e f International Boundary Study No. 26 - Afghanistan-USSR Boundary (PDF), 15 September 1983, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ BBC Timeline: Soviet War in Afghanistan, 17 February 2009, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ Ferghana News - Turkmenistan erects barbed wire fences on Afghan border, 16 October 2014, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ 21st Century Asian Arms Race - Turkmenistan Is Obsessed With Protecting Its Afghan Border, 25 January 2018, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ 21st Century Asian Arms Race - Turkmenistan Just Advertised Its Counter-Terrorism Muscle, 5 August 2018, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ Forecast International - Turkmenistan Wary of Afghan Border, 16 August 2017, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ "Afghanistan's Central Asian neighbours panic, reject refugees".
- ^ More Turkmens Troops Killed Along Afghan Border, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ Ferghana News - Turkmenistan erects barbed wire fences on Afghan bordern, 16 October 2014, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ Forecast International - Turkmenistan Wary of Afghan Border, 16 August 2017, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ "Global News Nexus".
- ^ a b Caravanistan - Turkmenistan-Afghanistan border crossings, retrieved 8 September 2018