Welcoming Karzai
Hopes are pinned on Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to Pakistan to iron out differences between the distrustful neighbours, reports Iffat Idris from Islamabad
Click to view caption |
Afghan refugee women clad in burqas wait to leave for their homeland on Monday, 21 April, 2003 from their transit camp in Karachi, Pakistan. Most of the Afghan people who fled war and drought are going home with the help of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR. Monday, about 500 people left for Afghanistan.
|
With the international community's attention firmly focussed on Iraq, the previous American target for regime change, Afghanistan, has been forgotten. However, the need for international involvement and assistance in Afghanistan remains as acute as ever. This will be one of the main issues on the agenda this week when Afghan President Hamid Karzai visits his Pakistani counterpart, President Pervez Musharraf.
The broad aim of the visit is strengthening bilateral relations. The specific items on the agenda are likely to be the return of prisoners, border security, economic assistance and promotion of closer economic and political cooperation.
The return of prisoners is a sensitive issue in Pakistan. At the time of the US-led war against the Taliban, hundreds of Pakistanis responded to calls from religious leaders to defend Afghanistan against the Americans. Following the American victory, many Pakistani "jihadis" found themselves behind bars in Afghan jails. Their fate depended on which warlord was holding them captive. Most unlucky were those captured by warlord Abdul-Rashid Dostum and many were brutally killed. Other prisoners of war were released after their families paid hefty ransoms to the Afghans. Now, well over a year after the fall of the Taliban, an estimated 800 Pakistanis remain in Afghan prisons.
One month ago, as a gesture of goodwill towards Pakistan, President Karzai announced that all remaining Pakistani prisoners would be set free. However, his decree has not yet been implemented. The delay appears to be because of the Americans rather than the Afghans. US authorities are still interrogating some of the Pakistani prisoners suspected of having links to Al-Qa'eda and the Taliban. The Pakistani government's position is that most of those captured have no such links with extremist groups. But, until the Americans are satisfied on this point, they will not release the remaining Pakistani detainees.
President Musharraf and Pakistani Interior Ministry officials will press President Karzai during his visit to ensure that his decree is implemented and that all Pakistani prisoners are sent home.
A second issue of on-going concern between the two countries is cross-border security. This relates to the capture of Al-Qa'eda and Taliban fugitives, many of whom are suspected of having crossed into Pakistan, and the demarcation of borders. A clash took place in the border area near North Waziristan last week between Afghan security forces and Pakistani militiamen after Afghan troops entered territory that the Pakistanis claimed was theirs. No one was hurt in the conflict, but boundary disputes need to be resolved to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
As a first step, a joint commission was established after last week's clash to resolve the territorial dispute that caused it. Karzai and Musharraf will be hoping to expand this initiative and find a way to permanently settle disagreements about the Pakistan- Afghan border.
Closer economic and political cooperation are also on the agenda. For Karzai, the former is probably more pressing. Afghanistan desperately needs funds to meet the immediate needs of its people and for reconstruction. Though hardly a rich country, Pakistan is in a position to help. The Pakistani government has already announced that a soft loan of US$100 million, pledged earlier to Afghanistan, will now be given as a grant. $20 million has been handed over, and President Karzai may request more aid during this visit.
Pakistan is keen to promote the use of its own companies in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Were it not for the political differences between them due to Pakistan's support of the Taliban, Pakistan would be the natural partner for rebuilding the war-torn country. President Musharraf will be pushing for further progress on political reconciliation during Karzai's trip, thereby paving the way for Pakistani companies to do business in Afghanistan.
The problem for Pakistan is not so much winning over the Afghan president as overcoming hostility with other more powerful Northern Alliance figures in the Afghan administration. The vastly altered regional situation may be in Pakistan's favour. International attention has shifted away from Afghanistan to Iraq. Kabul therefore is not in a position to spurn offers of friendship and assistance. Furthermore, even anti-Pakistan Northern Alliance leaders are aware of Afghanistan's geographical position as a land-locked country and that Pakistan is its most important route to the outside world.
Given the many reasons for closer Pakistani-Afghan cooperation, the success of Hamid Karzai's visit is assured.
