The purpose of the barrier is to prevent terrorism, arms, and drug trafficking, as well as refugees, illegal immigration, smuggling and infiltration across the approximately 2,670-kilometre-long (1,660 mi) international border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In September 2005, Pakistan stated it had plans to build a 2,400-kilometre (1,500 mi) fence along its border with Afghanistan to prevent insurgents and drug smugglers slipping between the two countries.

[6] Major General Shaukat Sultan, a former Pakistani military spokesman, said the move was necessary to block the infiltration of militants across the border into Pakistan.

[10] In June 2011, Major General Athar Abbas, the then-spokesman for the army, said: "We did fence around 35km of the border area as it faced continuous militant incursions.

[14] On 1 April 2013, the Afghan Foreign Ministry formally protested and raised "grave concerns" over what it called "the Pakistani military's unilateral construction and physical reinforcement activities along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border in eastern Nangarhar province".

The purpose of the trench is to tighten border security and create more favourable conditions for Pakistani security forces responsible for patrolling the border by deterring and restricting the flow of unauthorized entities, such as narcotics, militants, smugglers and general illegal movements of Afghan civilians or refugees.

[12] Three private construction companies out of Pakistan's Balochistan province were contracted to supply manpower and oversee the arrangement of necessary equipment.

Statistics available with The Khorasan Diary, an independent news portal, show that 1,374,394 people have crossed on either side in one year, while 234,944 vehicles had passed through the border terminal in the same time frame.