ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri on Friday concluded a two-day trip to Kabul, the latest in a series of high level mutual visits between the two neighbours in efforts to mend their fences in recent months.

Although both Islamabad and Kabul expressed their goodwill and determination to have friendly ties and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali and Finance Minister Asraf Ghandi have visited Islamabad one after another since April, Pak-Afghan relations have become volatile and will probably remain so due to border disputes, trade issues and mutual distrust in the anti-terror campaign.

The delicate relations between the two countries have been aggravated since June 20 when Islamabad sent 2,000 troops to its northwestern Mohmand tribal area bordering Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province to co-operate with US and Afghan troops in tracking Taliban remnants and al-Qaida terrorists.

The deployment culminated in a trade of fire between Pakistani and Afghan troops and finally triggered border disputes over the 2,500 kilometre-long Durand Line, which was delimited in 1893 and recognized both by British India and Afghan Amir Abdul Rehman.

Pak-Afghan relations further deteriorated after an angry mob ransacked the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul on July 8 to protest at the alleged incursion by Pakistani troops. To appease the Pakistanis, Afghan President Karzai made a quick apology to Islamabad for the attack and assured no such incident would happen again.

The future of settling border disputes is gloomy. Both sides are sticking to their own claims based on different maps of the Durand Line: Pakistan uses a British map while Afghanistan uses a Russian map drawn decades ago.

Furthermore, Afghan Interior Minister Jalali stressed on July 30 in Kabul that the transitional government of Karzai is not in a position to decide about the Durand Line, which the Pakistan side believes is a "closed chapter" and such a decision can be made only after the formation of a parliament by the Afghan people.

The transit trade issue is another main obstacle, which has been impeding the development of relations ever since Pakistan got independence in 1947.

Afghanistan, as a land-locked country, needs transit through Pakistan, and the two neighbours signed the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA) in 1965 under which Afghanistan's transit right through Pakistan was recognized.

This agreement has never been implemented smoothly. Islamabad, on occasions, has terminated the facility or tried to control the list of items that the Afghans could import through Pakistan due to "widespread smuggling." Islamabad said a large proportion of the goods imported by Afghans under the ATTA were re-exported into the Pakistani market as they had little or no demand in Afghanistan and Pakistani industries, therefore, had suffered.

While some adjustments have been made in the protocol and Pakistan has offered new proposals like complementary tariff structures to eliminate smuggling margins, the Afghan side has been demanding totally unfettered access under the ATTA.

Distrust emerging in the fight against the ousted Taliban and al-Qaida terrorists also spoils relations.

In late July in separate interviews, Karzai expressed his anger over Pakistan's alleged aggressive policies on the border in Mohmand, the support being extended to the Taliban and its refusal and failure to initiate a viable trade and transit agreement with his country.

Interior Minister Jalali also blamed increasing attacks inside Afghanistan on elements coming from the Pakistani side of the porous border.

Pakistani Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, however, dismissed his Afghan counterpart's allegations. He insisted "Pakistan does not allow anyone, any group, any individual or any organization to operate from its soil (against Afghanistan)" and expressed his country's grave concerns over the expanding influence of India in Afghanistan.

Besides these issues, the repatriation of about 2 million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan, the release of Pakistani prisoners detained in Afghanistan during the US-led anti-terror war in 2001 and the rampant drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Pakistan have also complicated efforts to improve relations.

Analysts widely believe the relations, in the long term, will remain unstable due to internal and external factors, although Islamabad and Kabul know clearly that they need each other more in the fight for national security and against terrorism, as well as in developing their own economies.

(China Daily August 25, 2003)