Kasuri justifies help in anti-terror war

"The policy adopted by the government of Pakistan after 9/11 was in the best interest of Pakistan." That was Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Pakistan's new foreign minister, responding to a question on the future of the country's support to the U.S.-led war on terror.

Ahead of the election of a new chief minister in the North-West Frontier province (NWFP) yesterday, Kasuri, in a wide-ranging interview with Gulf News, was careful to balance out his government's relations with the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party alliance of Islamic parties, and Pakistan's commitments to the Western world.

With the prospect of the NWFP being led by an MMA-backed chief minister just hours later, Kasuri, however, was keen to point out that defence and foreign affairs remained within the purview of the federal government.

Earlier in the week, Western diplomats were once again alarmed at remarks attributed to an MMA leader in the NWFP who appeared to call for the reversal of Pakistan's support to the war on terror.

In recent weeks, senior Pakistani officials have noted that the tribal territories bordering Afghanistan, at the centre of the MMA's demand for an end to the campaign against individuals fleeing the Central Asian country, in effect remained out of the reach of the provincial government.

Up to 60,000 military and paramilitary troops have been deployed along the 2,414-km Afghan border known as the Durand Line - named after the British colonial officer who oversaw the divide.

While the final status of the Durand Line theoretically remains unsettled, with officials from past Afghan monarchies questioning the division, the issue of where the border begins and ends, snaking through treacherous mountains of the Hindukhush, is hardly an issue these days.

"Even the MMA is committed to being reasonable and flexible. They said so in their meeting with Western diplomats in Islamabad some weeks ago," said Kasuri, referring to the first formal post-election contact of MMA leaders with senior Western officials in Islamabad.

At that meeting, Western diplomats heard leaders such as Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Professor Khurshid Ahmed, the leading lights of the MMA, field a wide variety of questions ranging from the alliance's position on the status of women to relations with the Western world.

Kasuri, remains convinced that while the "MMA has full right to express its view" it's also the case that "no serious-minded country can encourage terrorism".

Although the future of Pakistan's commitment to the United States appears to remain strongly intact, the domestic political repercussions of the MMA's call remain unclear.

Kasuri as the foreign minister would only discuss foreign policy matters, leaving issues such as the makings of parliamentary political alliances in the hands of other cabinet colleagues.

But his remarks follow the decision by the Karachi-based MQM (Muttahida Qaumi Movement) earlier this week to part ways with the ruling coalition of Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, the new prime minister.

That break has once again prompted leaders of PML-QA-led alliance to resume discussions with the MMA to forge an alliance at the centre.

While the support to the war on terror remains beyond question, it was unclear yesterday, exactly how far the MMA, whose important rallying calls have included an end to support for the U.S., was ready to be flexible to the extent of coming up to the expectations of senior policy figures such as Kasuri.

Meanwhile, the maiden foreign trips by newly-appointed prime ministers and foreign ministers are usually the subject of intense interest by analysts who are keen to gauge not just the messages from such high level decisions-makers but also the surrounding atmospherics.

Kasuri, who leaves for his first foreign visit today heading to Bonn via London for the first Afghanistan review conference, was keen to emphasise the high stakes that Pakistan attaches to its next-door neighbour.

In a year when Afghanistan's former Taliban regime - once closely allied to Pakistan - has been effectively demolished and replaced by the U.S. backed government of Hamid Karzai, Pakistan has found itself continuing to be closely involved in the Central Asian country's rehabilitation.

The 2,414-km-long border is almost equivalent to the Central Asian country's borders with all of its other neighbours - with Iran to its west, the former Soviet Central Asian republics along the northwest and north, and a small slice of territory bordering China in the northeast.

"We will use the Bonn review conference to emphasise upon other Western governments for the need to fulfil the objective of rebuilding Afghanistan," said Kasuri.

"We find there's a direct relationship between militancy and reconstruction efforts. If commitments by the world community are fulfilled, this will go a long way in curbing militancy," added Kasuri.

Kasuri, a barrister by profession and new to the foreign ministry, however, was quick to demonstrate his world view, with references to the history of Malaysia and Singapore - countries with strong leftist movements after liberation, but their economic development helped to set the course for prosperity.

While in Bonn, Kasuri would also get opportunity to meet foreign ministers from other countries of the region surrounding Afghanistan as well as from European countries. It is still early for Kasuri to articulate just what may emerge from his bilateral contacts, at a time when the recent U.S.-led buildup on Iraq has indeed come as a new policy challenge.

But his best hope is to use the occasion to not only renew Pakistan's commitment of $100 million for supporting Afghanistan's reconstruction efforts, but also to remind his fellow ministers of the fallout from the continued neglect of the Central Asian country which has had more than its reasonable share of producing militants.