Behind the rift between the Afghan and Pakistani presidents

Before going into the White House to dine on sea bass and soup, the two leaders stood stiffly alongside Bush, refusing to even shake hands, as Bush spoke of the event as “a chance for us to strategise together”. But the dinner produced no joint communiqué or new strategy.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told the media the two leaders had agreed on greater cooperation in “intelligence sharing [and] coordinated action against terrorists”. However, his comments sparked new wrangling between Afghan and Pakistani officials over interpretation, echoing the very public brawling of the previous week.

The US and international media generally played down the affair, labelling it as “a spat” between two “bickering allies”. But the episode points, not only to the unfolding disaster in Afghanistan as the US and NATO troops come under increasing fire from anti-occupation forces, but also the deeply destabilising impact of the American-led invasion throughout the region.

Karzai triggered the row by declaring that Pakistan should shut down its “sources of hatred”—the country’s Islamic schools or madrassas. He followed up by expressing scepticism about a truce signed earlier in the month between the Pakistani government and local tribal leaders in North Waziristan. Under pressure from Washington, the Pakistani military had sent 70,000 troops into the previously autonomous Pashtun tribal areas near the Afghan border to suppress local sympathy and support for anti-occupation militia fighting in Afghanistan.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/sep2006/mush-s30.shtml