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April 4, 2002
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Thursday
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Muharram 20, 1423
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Musharraf in Kabul
Import of reconditioned cars
Gang rape by police
Musharraf in Kabul
WITH mutual pledges to wipe out terrorism and deny sanctuaries to terrorists hostile to either country, President Pervez Musharraf and Chairman Hamid Karzai have taken one more step forward toward consolidating friendship between the two countries. As the first head of state to visit Afghanistan after the end of the war, President Musharraf made it clear that his sole aim in visiting Kabul was to help Chairman Karzai “all the way in what he wants.” On his part, the head of the interim Afghan administration correctly said that Pakistan as Afghanistan’s brother and neighbour had always stood by his country “in difficult times.” That the two should have paid attention to terrorism is an indication of the importance of the issue to them. Inherent in the mutual pledge is an acknowledgement of the havoc that terrorists operating from their countries have wrought on the world in general and the region in particular.
Except for a brief period, Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan have always been far from happy. Pakistan cannot forget that Afghanistan was the only country that voted against its UN membership, and that Kabul never failed to press its irredentist designs against Pakistan. Kabul also became a willing tool in the hands of Moscow and New Delhi and spoiled relations with Pakistan by harping on the Pakhtoonistan stunt and stirring up trouble in Pakistan’s tribal areas. With the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, a new chapter in their relationship began when Pakistan served as conduit for America’s overt and covert aid to the mujahideen in their anti-Soviet jihad. Unfortunately, the success of the jihad led to new complications between the two countries.
While Pakistan welcomed Afghanistan’s liberation, it made the fundamental error of getting involved deeply in the rivalry among different guerrilla factions. In the nineties especially, elements in the ISI operated independent of the elected governments and ran their own Afghan policy. The desire apparently was less to end the fratricide and more to control Afghanistan. The absurdity of Pakistan’s policy became obvious when the regime that Islamabad backed imposed on its people a highly obscurantist version of Islam. The Taliban not only tyrannized their people, their misguided zeal to export their version of Islam isolated them from the world.
All that is mercifully behind us. In opening a new chapter in their relations, both Islamabad and Kabul must avoid mistakes of the past. They have so much in common — and not only “rivers and mountains.” By living together in harmony, Pakistan and Afghanistan can be a source of peace and development in the region. For a small population, Afghanistan has vast natural resources, which need to be exploited. Pakistan has already contributed $100 million as its share towards Afghanistan’s reconstruction. One hopes that the stages towards the establis
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