Sir: I found recent statements on the issue of regional security and counter-terrorism by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to be quite strange. He has been quoted as saying, “My hope is that Pakistan will take harder and clearer measures in the future and thus become a country where extremism is no longer used as a political instrument.” Adding that, “If Pakistan takes a step in this direction, we in Afghanistan will take many steps to support it.” (Daily Times, January 31) While Pakistan is continuing with an all-out offensive against militants in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, it is very clear that the situation in Afghanistan is worsening. There are analysts who are now worrying that Afghanistan could soon become a completely failed state if urgent steps are not taken to tackle deteriorating security and lacklustre reconstruction and governance efforts.Given this state of affairs in Afghanistan, I fail to understand why President Karzai is tagging the issue with Pakistan, when quite obviously his own house is not in order. These statements are clearly meant to shift focus away from the worsening conditions in Afghanistan to the insurgency in Pakistan. Pakistan is taking the harder and clearer measures that Karzai has talked about, has he not noticed the large deployment of armed forces in the tribal areas of Pakistan? President Karzai would be better off concentrating on how to take harder and clearer measures in his own backyard before prompting Pakistan to ‘do more’.NASIR RIAZLahore