Karzai's concerns

President Hamid Karzai has once again sought assurances from Pakistan that it would "do more" to check terrorists attacking his country. In a talk with Pakistani editors, while expecting Pakistan to step up action against terrorists, the Afghan president acknowledged that Islamabad was putting up "a good fight" against Al Qaeda.

During his talks with President Pervez Musharraf, the two leaders had resolved that their governments would do all they could to stamp out terrorism. His special concern was that the Taliban operating from Pakistan were attempting to disrupt the presidential election due in October.

Even before the elections were announced, Kabul had accused Pakistan of failing to control the Taliban. On Tuesday, Mr Karzai mellowed his tone by saying he was satisfied that those crossing over into Afghanistan did not enjoy Islamabad's support.

The October 9 presidential election is crucial for Mr Karzai. If victorious, he would have a popular mandate to rule the country. This he needs badly. Installed in Kabul after the Bonn accord in 2001, and having being elected head of the transitional government by the Loya Jirga in June 2002, Mr Karzai has been having a rough ride.

He has survived several assassination attempts, and the country he rules is far from stable. His writ is confined to Kabul and Kunduz, and the warlords are a law unto themselves elsewhere in the country.

They have well-armed militias, and for that reason are in a position to defy the Karzai government. Because Afghanistan's own security apparatus is small and poorly equipped, he has to rely on the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force.

Nato has pledged to further expand it, but it is reluctant to deploy it in the countryside. This enables elements hostile to the Karzai government to turn the outlying provinces into their fiefdoms.

The Taliban, though weakened, profit from this vacuum and carry out acts of terrorism. Common criminals also use this opportunity to terrorize the populace. Obviously, Mr Karzai needs a presidential victory to consolidate his position and take bold actions to restore peace, order and national unity.

The problems emanating from lawlessness are immense. The main task - Afghanistan's post-war reconstruction - is proceeding at a snail's pace. Some aid agencies have closed down their operations because their workers have been kidnapped, and in some cases, killed.

The warlords have also encouraged poppy cultivation so that Afghanistan has returned to its position as the world's biggest poppy producer. Because the law enforcement agencies and revenue collecting machinery have not been streamlined, illegal trade is higher than the official trade. This way, Kabul loses a huge sum of money each year in revenues.

Pakistan has a vital stake in seeing Afghanistan peaceful and democratic. Violence and strife in Afghanistan invariably spill over into Pakistan, just as conditions of peace and economic growth help this country.

For these reasons, it is in Pakistan's interest that there should be an orderly political transition in Afghanistan and that country is able to develop democratic institutions.

Pakistan has pledged 100 million dollars for Afghanistan's reconstruction. This and the technical assistance which Pakistan is giving in some vital communications projects can be of use only when there is peace in Afghanistan.

One hopes that, once armed with a popular mandate, Mr Karzai would be able to set his house in order and eliminate terrorists, some of whom live and operate from, and within, that country.

US trade prospects

Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan is right when he says that the warm relations between the US and Pakistan have not seen a corresponding increase in trade between the two countries.

While Pakistan has been given special status as a key non-NATO ally by the US in recognition of its cooperation in the war against terrorism, this has not significantly enhanced the volume of trade between the two sides.

Trade between the US and Pakistan has largely remained unchanged in the past couple of years with exports to the US forming about 24 per cent of its total. The fear now is that Pakistan's exports would suffer as a consequence of the abolition of textile quota by the end of the current year.

As the US remains the largest market for Pakistani exports, this will seriously affect the country's overall export performance in the coming years. Some quarters think that Pakistan would do better economically in the long run if the US concentrated on enhancing trade and not aid to this country.

While aid is directed at specific sectors of the economy, the benefits of trade are more widely disbursed. Apart from enhancing vital foreign exchange reserves, it also creates economic opportunities in terms of employment and domestic resource generation.

The US is expected to look at Pakistan's case sympathetically. Enhanced trade between the two countries can only come about if the US offers better opportunities for Pakistani exports in US markets.

It is hoped that the Trade and Investment Facilitation Agreement (TIFA) meeting in September will work to address these issues. In addition, the US and Pakistan must also look at ways to increase American investment in Pakistan.

To facilitate this, the Pakistan government should look at the investor demand for continuity of economic policies, an improved law and order situation and better infrastructure facilities.

If these issues are not addressed in the near future, there is a possibility that Pakistan may well end up losing its largest export market in the coming years.

Oil spill: new revelations

The Pakistan Merchant Navy Officers Association investigating last year's massive oil spill off the coast of Karachi has come out with a severe indictment of the way the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) handled the whole affair and its apparent lack of professionalism. A report to this effect says that the KPT was not exactly telling the truth when it said that the depth of the water channel used by ships to enter Karachi's harbour was deep enough for the Tasman Spirit (the vessel which caused the spill) to pass through.

It says that if one were to take the KPT's claim at face value, then it was not possible for the ship to run aground as it did. This, in the report's view, can only mean that the KPT had not dredged the channel up to the depth that would allow oil tankers the size of the Tasman Spirit to pass safely through. The other important point made in the report is that once the ship ran aground, the situation was thoroughly mishandled because the KPT's senior management, comprising mostly of naval officers, lacked training in technical matters, especially those related to dealing with rescue operations.

The findings of this inquiry should not be seen as a shot in the dark or an attempt to malign an important institution. It comes from a body of people with considerable knowledge and experience of the ways of the sea.

The federal government should constitute an independent body of experts to probe the allegations. Over a year has gone by since the oil spill occurred and it seems that the government, in fact most people other than those directly affected by it, have forgotten the whole affair.

Not a word has come about the compensation which the government said would be paid to those affected, and nothing about the claim which the KPT said would be lodged with the vessel's owners, or the measures taken by the port authorities to deal more effectively with such developments in the future.