 After reaching a virtual stalemate with these two wars against the Afghans , the British imposed the Durand Line in 1893 , which divided Afghanistan and British India ( now the North @-@ West Frontier Province , Federally Administered Tribal Areas ( F.A.T.A. ) and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan ) . Named after Sir Mortimer Durand , the foreign secretary of the British Indian government , it was agreed upon by the Emir of Afghanistan ( Abdur Rahman Khan ) and the representatives of the British Empire but deeply resented by the Afghans . Its intended purpose was to serve as a buffer zone to inhibit the spread of Russian influence down into British India . 
