Its hard to recognise mistakes, and even harder to engineer course corrections.

There is good reason to suspect that Afghanistan is too fractious a place for ambitious statebuilding. A grand Afghan political settlement is likely to remain ephemeral or illusive. Familiar divides will reappear because they have never gone away. hatever chips !akistans national security managers might try to play in an Afghan settlement have not rewarded !akistan in the past, and are unlikely to help !akistan find a brighter future. Two generations of !akistani strategic analysts have held the mirage that Afghanistan provides strategic depth, when the reverse has proven to be true. !akistan has been destabilised by its own and by "#. misadventures in Afghanistan, and could be destabilised further if India gains a foothold there to use as a staging ground to support disaffection in $alochistan. A role reversal of this kind, mirroring Indias decades-long misfortunes in %ashmir, could only multiply !akistans domestic woes. A political settlement, if one can be found, will have to tackle this issue which, in turn, re&uires improved ties between !akistan and India. 'awa( #harif has great sympathy and support in ashington. The )bama administration will continue to provide assistance to tackle !akistans economic, energy and internal security woes. First impressions in ashington, as in !akistan, suggest a man hobbled by the immensity of his countrys problems and the obstacles that others so easily place in his path. *ast month, at the margins of "' +eneral Assembly speechmaking, he and Indian !rime ,inister ,anmohan #ingh promised to &uiet e-changes of fire across the %ashmir divide. These flares appear to outsiders as contrived to prevent 'awa( from pursuing what he so clearly wants . improved relations and greater direct trade with India. As long as firing across the %ashmir divide continues, it suggests opposition to this agenda, which is critical to !akistans well-being. ,ore difficult, by orders of magnitude, will be taking action against e-tremists that are driving up !akistans death toll. *eaving aside countries like #yria which are in the throes of a civil war, !akistan now ranks above Afghanistan, and second only to Ira&, in fatalities due to sectarian violence. The writer is co-founder of the Stimson Centre in Washington.