Afghanistan and Pakistan, always suspicious of each other's motives, are once again on a collision course.
This time the suicide bombing that targetted the Indian embassy in Kabul and killed about 50 people was the reason for the governments of the two neighbouring countries to indulge in a blame-game.
Afghanistan's interior ministry, without even waiting for any findings or preliminary investigations, blamed the "regional intelligence circles" for coordinating and advising the terrorists who carried out the attack.
The ministry's top official General Zahir Azimi, and following him President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, didn't name Pakistan or its prime secret service, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), directly but there was no doubt about the hint given by them.
Subsequently, the accusations against Pakistan became focused and sections of the Afghan media also started blaming the ISI for the bombing. It was alleged that Taliban had carried out the attack with assistance from the ISI.
By not claiming responsibility for this particular suicide bombing, Taliban may have escaped the blame for killing so many civilians but Pakistan still couldn't get out of the firing line. India too began suspecting Pakistan's hand in the attack and its army chief General Deepak Kapoor came up with a statement that ISI's hand in the bombing couldn't be ruled out.
Predictably, Pakistan rejected the allegations and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi condemned the Kabul bombing and sympathised with the victims.
Gilani argued that a stable Afghanistan was in Pakistan's interest and his country had nothing to gain from sponsoring bombings and destabilising its neighbour.
Such verbal sparring has become standard practice and an integral part of the uneasy relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The two neighbours have been unable to have normal and friendly ties.
Afghanistan was the only country in the world that opposed Pakistan's creation in 1947 and its representative, Abdur Rahman Pazhwak, in the United Nations at the time made claim to parts of the newly independent state.
Subsequently, this claim evolved into Afghanistan's backing for Pashtunistan, which was to be carved out from Pakistan as a state for the Pashtun people inhabiting Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Balochistan.
Successive Afghan governments, including those led by the pro-Pakistan groups such as the Afghan mujahideen and Taliban who ruled the country during the 1990s, never formally recognised the Durand Line border between the two countries.
The porous, 2,500-kilometre long border hasn't been demarcated at certain places and Afghan and Pakistani border guards have several times clashed due to disputes on the status of the boundary.
The bitterness marking Pak-Afghan relations was particularly intense in the aftermath of the suicide bombing at the Indian embassy in Kabul because this incident took place not long after the attack on the national parade in the Afghan capital on April 27. The Afghan intelligence agency had put the blame for that attack also on Pakistan.
Security lapse
Taliban had claimed responsibility for that attack, which had embarrassed the Afghan government and the US-led Nato forces operating in Afghanistan as it occurred due to security lapse at such an important event.
The recent rise in Taliban attacks, including the suicide bombing at the upscale Serena Hotel in Kabul and the spectacular jailbreak in Kandahar, had also raised tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan on account of the strong belief in Kabul that Taliban hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas were planning and executing such strikes.
The issue of cross-border infiltration of Taliban and other militants from Pakistan has become a major irritant in Pak-Afghan relations and the US and its Western allies having troops in Afghanistan were supporting Kabul in the matter.
This issue has taken a dangerous turn recently with US politicians demanding airstrikes and "hot pursuit" by Nato forces in Pakistani tribal areas to take out militants linked to Al Qaida and Taliban.
Any major ground attack by US-led coalition forces in Pakistani territory would adversely affect Pakistan's relations not only with America but also with Afghanistan. The Pakistan-Afghanistan border is now a symbol of hostility.
Clashes erupt on the slightest pretext between border guards even at Torkham and Chaman, the two official crossing-points between the two countries.
In June 2003, a major clash took place when Pakistani troops marched into the remotest parts of Mohmand tribal region on the border with Afghanistan to establish the state's writ.
President General Pervez Musharraf during a visit to the US exultantly remarked that this was the first time in 100 years that Pakistan's troops had entered this "treacherous" area where Al Qaida and Taliban members may be hiding.
Afghan government at that time accused Pakistan of exploiting Afghanistan's instability to encroach upon its territory.
The June 2003 border clash at Mohmand tribal region's boundary with Afghanistan's Kunar province strained Pak-Afghan ties to such an extent that the United Nations offered mediation and the United States actually became involved in reconciling its two allies.
It is no longer a secret that Pakistan skilfully used the opportunity presented by America's so-called war on terror to extend its writ to remote, unadministered tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
In December 2001, Pakistan for the first time deployed troops in Tirah valley in Khyber tribal region and in parts of Kurram on a request by the US to block entry of Al Qaida fighters fleeing its military operations.
Key irritants
Pakistan's proactive policy angered the Afghan government, which argues that Islamabad must consult it before taking and implementing any major decision concerning the tribal areas.
There are other irritants as well in Pak-Afghan relationship. Pakistan is concerned about the growing Indian influence in Afghanistan and has often complained about the use of Afghan soil by New Delhi to destabilise Pakistan's border provinces, NWFP and Balochistan, where militants and Baloch nationalists are challenging the writ of the state.
It was also worried that the Northern Alliance, which was made up of Afghan warlords and politicians known for their hostility to Pakistan, monopolised power in the Afghan government until President Karzai started sidelining its leadership.
The issue of the Afghan transit trade through overland routes in Pakistan also causes friction. Then there is the issue of around 2.5 million Afghan refugees still living in Pakistan.
Islamabad wants the refugees to be repatriated but it cannot force them to leave as such a move would cause adverse reaction worldwide.
Donors are no longer helping Pakistan share the burden that the Afghan refugees are exerting on its economy. Another concern in Islamabad is Kabul's patronage for Pakistani tribal elders and its efforts to use them to stir up trouble in its Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
Musharraf during a visit to the US said that (June 2003) was first time in 100 years that Pakistan's troops had entered the "treacherous" Mohmand area where Al Qaida members may be hiding.
