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Beckoning Inferno

by Newsweek Pakistan
Asif Hassan—AFP

Asif Hassan—AFP

Karachi, Nov. 14

Trust Pervez Musharraf to speak the unsettling likely. Just days after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s relationship-resetting visit to Pakistan, the former president and Army chief said Afghanistan could, after the NATO withdrawal, slip into “proxy war” between Pakistan (backing the Pashtun) and India (backing the Tajik). Speaking in New Delhi, Afghanistan’s former president Hamid Karzai dismissed this angrily on behalf of Afghan Pashtuns. Not to be left behind, Pakistan’s de facto foreign minister, Sartaj Aziz, told the BBC that Pakistan would only take out militants hostile to it. The controversial statement was quickly withdrawn. In Islamabad, Ghani and Prime Minster Sharif had made nice and pledged to bolster economic ties and support efforts for peace. They’re talking the right talk—but is anyone listening?

From our Nov. 22-29, 2014, issue.

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