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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan-Pak tension prompts Kabul to develop new trade routes... |
| 2003-01-26 |
| Ahmed Rashid President Hamid Karzai is taking steps to establish landlocked Afghanistan as a trade hub connecting the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe. Over the past two months, Afghan authorities have reached trade deals with Iran, India and the Central Asian states – all of which grant major concessions to Afghan goods. The new direction Afghan trade is taking is leaving out Pakistan - formerly Afghanistan’s principle trading partner and entry port for imports and exports. Now why would Hamid do that? Aside from the fact that he's not crazy, I mean... Some Pakistani observers claim the main obstacle to the normalization of trade relation is the hostility of former Northern Alliance leaders who now occupy senior positions in Afghanistan’s interim government. However, other analysts note ambiguities in Pakistan’s policy towards Kabul. Pakistani leaders promise both aid and trade to bolster the Karzai’s government. At the same time, Islamabad has effectively undermined Kabul’s authority by allowing senior Taliban leaders and other anti-government renegades, including Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, to find de facto sanctuary in Pakistan’s tribal belt. Yeah. You might call it "ambiguities." You might also call it a program of subversion and meddling, too... Western diplomats in Islamabad say the Interservices Intelligence, which dominates Pakistan’s Afghan policy, appears more interested in trying to counter Indian and Northern Alliance influence in Kabul than in improving trade ties. "Pakistan is losing out because its myopic policies place countering India above trade and stability in Afghanistan," says a Western ambassador in Islamabad. If Pakistan’s security apparatus does not realign its policy towards Kabul, Islamabad could find itself isolated, observers say. Such isolation could result in Pakistan missing out on the expected windfall from the development of Central Asian oil and gas resources. And that, of course, will be the fault the the Merkin hegemons, somehow... |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |