Asia Times: Afghanistan, Pakistan renew ties as US allies


	February 12, 2002	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Afghanistan, Pakistan renew ties as US allies
By Mushahid Hussain

ISLAMABAD - Afghan interim head Hamid Karzai's journey to Islamabad on Friday may have been short in terms of both duration and flight time from Kabul, but in terms of symbolism and substance it covered a long journey in the relationship between the two neighbors. Karzai's trip opened a new chapter in Afghan-Pakistani ties in an international political context that has changed virtually beyond recognition in the past few months since September 11. In the process, both countries managed to exorcise demons that had haunted their relationship.

For more than two decades, Pakistan remained the key external player in Afghan politics, hosting more than 2 million refugees and a large bulk of the exiled leaders who alternated between holding power in Kabul and peddling influence in parts of Afghanistan with Pakistan's blessings. In the process, Pakistan earned the ire of many Afghans who felt left out in its game of promoting favorites and ditching others who had once been its friends.

During the Taliban period, Pakistan supported these former students of seminaries based in its territory, while the Taliban's adversaries, the Northern Alliance, were obviously on the other side, blaming Pakistan and its proteges for all the ills afflicting Afghanistan. But having dumped the Taliban as "extra baggage" post-September 11, Pakistan has shed its past policy of perceiving its western neighbor as a sort of fifth province where a "friendly government" meant a regime of Pakistan's favorites.

Not surprisingly, Pakistan was alarmed when the Northern Alliance entered a liberated Kabul last November after the rout of the Taliban following massive military strikes by the United States. Strangely enough, Pakistani policy-makers were apparently unaware of or failed to take seriously the United States' increasingly cozy relationship of covert support for the Northern Alliance since 1998, a fact made public only recently in stories in the Washington Post. Initially, the Northern Alliance too, particularly the Tajik troika of the Foreign, Defence and Interior Ministers, was critical of Pakistan's role, castigating "interference" when all three made separate, highly publicized visits to New Delhi after assuming office.

However, Hamid Karzai, appointed as head of the Afghan Interim Administration at the Bonn Conference in December, is a familiar figure in Pakistan, having lived in exile for almost two decades in Quetta, a fact he fondly alluded to in his joint press conference with President General Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad. "The Afghans remember that the Pakistani people were extremely kind and gave homes to millions of Afghan refugees ... We felt as free as any Pakistani living here, to which I am personally a witness." It was significant that Karzai included Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, whom Musharraf called "our brother", in his entourage. Abdullah has been critical of Pakistan because of its past support for the Taliban regime.

Both countries agreed to cooperate on a pipeline project that would transport energy from Central Asia via Afghanistan into Pakistan. If Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to cooperate as friendly neighbors with the principle of "not allowing each other's territory to destabilize the other", this new cordial rapport is being erected on an edifice that is propped up by the American presence in the region, since both are pivotal allies in the US "war against terrorism".

In his State of the Union address in January, President George W Bush mentioned only two foreign leaders by name - Karzai (who was present) and Musharraf - anointing the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan as partners and close allies. Bush also talked of a new set of enemies, labeling them as an "axis of evil". Included here was Iran, a neighbor both of Afghanistan and Pakistan. This means that in the new regional context, Afghanistan would find it more convenient to look to its eastern neighbor (Pakistan) than its western one (Iran) for succor and support.

The US military presence in Afghanistan and Central Asia has also raised regional concerns, notably between Russia (a close friend of the new Afghan administration) and China (a key ally and neighbor of Pakistan). Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet told Congress last Wednesday that China is "skeptical of US intentions in Central Asia and South Asia, since it fears that the United States is gaining influence at China's expense".

This concern is shared by Moscow. Hence, it is no accident that the Washington meeting of the US-Russian Working Group on Afghanistan on Saturday stated publicly that "the American side emphasized that the US does not seek to establish permanent military bases in Central Asia".

Interestingly, in his interview with the Washington Post on Saturday, Musharraf also echoed this concern in his first criticism of the Bush "axis of evil" speech. The interview was published on the day he arrived in the United States for an official visit. He said that the Bush speech had "evoked a lot of negative response", adding that he would advise the US president that "under the present state of turmoil and uncertainty around the world, especially the Islamic World", the United States should avoid actions that would create "further uncertainty".

In other words, Musharraf would be urging Bush when he meets with him on Wednesday that Washington should desist from any military action or political pressure on Iraq and Iran, the latter a close friend of Pakistan, since Islamabad would not like to find itself in a situation where it must make a choice between America and Iran. In the same interview, Musharraf, with an eye on the concerns of another close friend and neighbor, China, said: "The extensive US military presence here should end as soon as events in Afghanistan permit." Pakistan also fears that the US military presence in the region could push China closer to India, which already has an intimate military bond with Russia.

A new "great game" is already beginning in the region and it will have an impact on the likely direction of relations between Islamabad and Kabul, since both are pivotal players in the emerging regional scenario.

(Inter Press Service)