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Pakistan smarts over Afghan
protest
By Farangis Najibullah
PRAGUE
- Afghan transitional administration chairman Hamid
Karzai has called his Pakistani counterpart, President
General Pervez Musharraf, to apologize for the
ransacking of Islamabad's embassy in Kabul by a mob of
angry demonstrators.
The protesters - who
shouted "Death to Pakistan! Death to Peshawar! Death to
the invaders!" - were angry over alleged incursions into
Afghan territory by Pakistani border troops. Earlier,
Karzai also accused Musharraf of criticizing the Afghan
government's control over its outlying provinces and its
ability to represent the country's diverse ethnic mix,
apparently further fueling the protests.
At a
press conference in Kabul, Karzai condemned the
incident, "The Afghan people defend their independence,
the territorial integrity of our borders, and here, in
the capital, Afghans defend and treat our foreign guests
and diplomats with dignity. Whoever has done it, they
were not friends of Afghanistan. They were our enemies,
enemies of the honor of Afghans. We strongly, strongly,
strongly condemn the attack."
Despite Karzai's
quick apology, analysts predict the crisis - if not
handled properly - could have a negative impact on
long-term relations between Kabul and Islamabad, as well
as on the ongoing US-led war against terrorism.
Ahmad Rashid - a prominent regional expert based
in Lahore in Pakistan - tells RFE/RL that if the crisis
continues and relations between the two countries
worsen, remnants of the Taliban and the al-Qaeda
terrorist network will take advantage of the situation.
"If the Pakistani leaders do not respond
positively to this present crisis, there is a danger
that the fundamentalist government in [Pakistan's]
North-West Frontier Province will take advantage of it
and will step up their support for the Taliban. If
[this] happens, then obviously we will have a very
deteriorating and worsening situation," Rashid says.
Members of al-Qaeda and the ousted Taliban
regime are believed to be hiding in remote regions along
the Afghan-Pakistani border. US troops continue to
conduct serious operations in the area in an effort to
root them out.
Rashid says that maintaining good
relations between the two neighbors will be crucial if
the US is to successfully coordinate its antiterrorism
operations in the region. "Clearly, there are major
problems to be resolved on the Pakistani side - the
issue of dealing with the Taliban, who are sitting in
Pakistan, the issue of whether Pakistani troops have
intruded into Afghan territory in the tribal agencies,
where Pakistani troops are operating," Rashid says.
"On the Afghan side, I think, it is really an
internal issue within the government, because clearly,
the ransacking of the Pakistani embassy was
stage-managed by factions within the government, and
Hamid Karzai has to now punish these people. He has to
ensure that the police and security forces are properly
under his control, so that they don't repeat anything
like this."
Rashid notes that some Western
diplomats in Kabul suggest that the embassy attack may
have been instigated by the Northern Alliance in an
effort to delay reforms in the Defense Ministry, which
is dominated by Northern Alliance loyalists.
Mohammad Rahim Sherzuy is Afghanistan's first
deputy foreign minister. In an interview with RFE/RL, he
said that relations between Kabul and Islamabad are too
strong to be damaged by such incidents. "The people who
entered the [Pakistani] embassy were not friends of
Afghanistan. They wanted to create a hostile atmosphere
between Afghanistan and Pakistan," Sherzuy said.
"Relationships between the two countries are strong and
will not be destroyed by these kinds of incidents. We
share more than 2,400 kilometers of border, which
obliges us to be close to each other from all points of
view."
The incident is the latest in a long
string of border disputes between Afghanistan and
Pakistan. It is believed to have involved Pakistani
border guards, who, along with US troops, were
conducting joint operations along the poorly demarcated
border with Afghanistan. Sherzuy told RFE/RL that
Pakistani troops "entered Afghan soil to some extent".
Pakistan denies the charge, but both countries
acknowledge exchanges of fire across the border.
Rustam-Shah Mohmand, the Pakistani ambassador in
Kabul, said, "Pakistani troops did not enter Afghan soil
even for an inch. If we came close to the Afghan border,
it was done on the advice of the American and Afghan
governments, which asked our troops to close all routes
for terrorists."
Mohmand says that the Pakistani
embassy in Kabul will remain closed until Afghan leaders
apologize for the incident, damages are compensated and
security for diplomats guaranteed. Kabul has promised
compensation and has already increased security.
Copyright (c) 2002, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
20036
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