Explaining the Obstacles to the Optimal Administration of Iranian-Pakistani Borders

The border between Iran and Pakistan is among the borders that have invariably caused numerous problems for border guards, residents of the border areas and officials. Therefore, the optimal administration of this border in order to minimize the related threats and costs and utilize its environmental capacities seems necessary. In spite of many efforts by the relevant institutions and organizations to solve these problems, no considerable favourable result has been achieved in the management and administration of this part of Iranian borders, which is mostly due to the existence of manifold obstacles to realizing such an objective. The identification and understanding of these hurdles, however, will help the officials a great deal to administrate the Iranian-Pakistani border in an optimal manner. The results of this research illustrate that a group of political, economic, historical and cultural factors as well as the structural characteristics of border and border areas are the most important obstacles to Iran’s progress towards optimal administration of its border with Pakistan. The study also argues that working towards the comprehensive development of border areas, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of security forces guarding them, and finally applying an integrated and harmonious type of administration to the border are the measures which can enable us overcome these problems.