Pakistani embassy ransacked by protesters

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan hit a further low on Tuesday when a group of Afghans, protesting alleged recent border incursions by Pakistani forces, broke into the Pakistan embassy compound in the Afghan capital, Kabul, smashing windows and burning furniture and equipment. No embassy staff were hurt in the incident. "There was a mob that attacked our embassy in the morning around 9:30 a.m., and in 45 minutes they caused extensive damage," Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, Rustam Shah Mohmand, told IRIN. "Of course, many people jumped on the opportunity to attack the Pakistani mission. This is the fourth such attack in recent years," he said. He refused to comment about the Afghan government's role in the incident, saying only, "They know full well who attacked us." Mohmand said that although they were given some security, it was not enough. "The embassy will remain closed until further orders," he said. No information was available on the evacuation of Pakistani diplomats from Kabul. Tuesday's incident follows a wave of recent anti-Pakistan protests in Kabul, and angry comments by Afghan President Hamid Karzai warning outsiders not to interfere in his country's affairs. Karzai said he wanted to speak to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf about alleged critical comments about the Afghan government. "Afghanistan would neither interfere in anyone's affairs, nor accepts the interference of others in its own affairs," Karzai said. Pakistan, and Afghanistan's other neighbours, signed a non-interference agreement with their neighbour in December. The criticism of Pakistan came after reports of cross-border exchanges between Afghan and Pakistani forces, and complaints from Afghan provincial authorities of Pakistani troop incursions into the eastern Afghan provinces of Niagara and Knar. Relations between Islamabad and Kabul have been strained since the Northern Alliance gained dominance in the new Afghan government after the US-led bombing campaign defeated the hardline Islamist Taliban. Pakistan was the Taliban's principal supporter, and although Islamabad later dropped its support of the Islamic hardliners, observers believe that the Northern Alliance is still deeply suspicious of it. Pakistan is also suspicious of the growing influence in Afghanistan of its arch-rival, India. India opened consulates in the Afghan cities of Kandahar, in the south, and Jalalabad, in the east - close to Pakistan's western borders. "They are politically active there and they have contacts creating problems for our government," Pakistan's Information Minister Sheik Rashid Ahmed told IRIN in the capital, Islamabad. He said Pakistan supported Hamid Karzai's government. "We continue to support him and we want to remove any misunderstandings," he said, adding that the troop movements along the border were part of Pakistan's anti-terrorist campaign. Meanwhile, experts maintain that both governments need to act cautiously in the emerging scenario. "I think the danger is that in both countries there are vested interests, who want to derail the good neighbourly relations between the two countries. It is the responsibility of both governments that they are not influenced by these vested interests," regional expert and author, Ahmed Rashid, told IRIN from the eastern Punjabi city of Lahore. "The fact is that there are mechanisms to resolve such issues. And the Americans obviously have a role to play to resolve this problem," he said. Islamabad, Kabul and Washington recently established a joint official commission to resolve the border disputes and cooperate closely in other areas. Ahmed believed that establishing good relations between the countries required a strategic shift in the thinking of Pakistan's powerful military, and public assurances from the Afghan government that the Indian consulates along the borders would not be used in any aggressive designs. "I think a real strategic and psychological shift is needed on the side of Pakistan's army to accept that Afghanistan is a separate country and it's not an appendage of Pakistan as it was during the Taliban years," he explained.