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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
AFGHANISTAN: Mixed reaction to Karzai's Pakistan tour
ISLAMABAD, 23 April 2003 (IRIN) - Experts showed a mixed reaction to Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai's one-day state visit to Pakistan, which ended on Wednesday morning. This was his second visit to the neighbouring nation in one year.
"The visit was carried under the shadow of some Afghan authorities accusing Pakistan of interference in their country," an Afghan analyst, Roasthar Tarakai, told IRIN from the French city of Lyon. "It might be too early to assess the extent of his success or failure."
Karzai spent a busy day in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, meeting Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali and President Pervez Musharraf. The two sides agreed on the importance of defeating terrorism, enhancing bilateral trade and mutual cooperation in police training, and allowing extra flights.
Prior to Karzai's visit, the international media carried reports of Afghan officials accusing Pakistan of allowing Taliban to use its territory for cross-border operations. Moreover, Pakistani and Afghan forces exchanged fire over the border in Ghulam Khan village along the southeastern Afghan province of Khowst on 17 April.
However, Karzai played down reports of border tensions, and said he had been assured that Pakistan was not supporting extremists believed to be mounting attacks on Afghan and US forces from its side of the border. "Pakistan is a brother of ours and will do all [it can] to help Afghanistan attain the best levels of safety and security. That sort of assurance I have from the government of Pakistan," he told journalists on Tuesday.
Tarakai maintained that Pakistan gained little from the Bonn agreement, concluded after the fall of Taliban regime, which had been recognised by Islamabad. "Pakistan's regional rivals emerged victorious as the anti-Taliban Northern alliance grabbed a major share in power," he said, adding that Pakistan's current policy on Afghanistan consisted in searching for enhancing its role in the Afghan issue.
"We cannot balance the diverse regional interests of our neighbours until an elected government is formed in our country," he stressed. Tarakai went on to say that both nations needed to work towards a common better future.
An international relations expert and author, Rasul Baksh Rais, told IRIN from Pakistan's eastern Punjabi city of Lahore that Karzai's tour could be described as a routine visit. "It was meant to continue a process of dialogue and engagement between the two countries," he said.
"Pakistan's neutrality is important to end the conflict in Afghanistan," he said, adding that after the fall of the Taliban and the events of 11 September, Pakistan had become neutral on Afghan affairs and no longer interested in trying to bring to power a regime of its choice. He added that Pakistan had a vital role in the ongoing reconstruction effort of its western neighbour.
Although Islamabad pledged US $100 million in assistance to Afghanistan at the Tokyo donors' conference for Afghanistan, experts believe that Pakistan has been tardy in carrying out its promises.
While landlocked Afghanistan traded through its neighbours' territory by availing transit trade facilities, Afghan traders resent the presence of a negative list in Pakistan, barring them from importing certain items.
Meanwhile, the international media recently reported that the government of Iran was developing its southeastern port of Chabahar for the transit trade via the southern Afghan province of Nimruz. Meanwhile, Pakistan's arch-rival, India, was investing heavily in this project by developing hundreds of kilometres of roads between Chabahar and Nimruz.
Rais said future relations between the two countries depended on stability in Afghanistan, which might take years. "There is a misconception among Afghans, the Northern Alliance in particular, that they can develop themselves without Pakistan's support, which is vital," he added.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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