The many ways in which uncertainty in Afghanistan can spillover into Pakistan and impact the security situation here are only slowly becoming clear. The New Zealand cricket board, for example, is now going to review the security situation in Pakistan before greenlighting the tour here since a number of players expressed concern about playing in this country because of everything that is happening in Afghanistan. As much as we understand that the Taliban takeover of Kabul isn’t going to impact things like cricket over here just yet, perception is a very powerful thing and we must do whatever we can to win the battle for hearts and minds all over again. This is of course just one of the many sides of the picture. It isn’t just sports that’s going to be affected by Afghanistan. A number of things have already started turning. Pakistani bonds have already become the worst performers among emerging markets amid fears that global forces are going to isolate the country for its real or perceived support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. And foreign investment has also started the new fiscal year by takin a near-40pc plunge year-on-year and looks set to worsen as investors beeline for the exit lounge; again precisely because of the situation across the western border. All this adds to the government’s to-do list, of course. It must not only watch the borders and put security agencies on the alert; especially to check for militants among the thousands upon thousands of refugees headed our way. It must now also begin an aggressive diplomatic drive to present Pakistan’s own case to the international community. For the entire duration of the war Pakistan was continuously hounded for allegedly confounding the allied war effort by helping the Taliban; even though no country suffered more than Pakistan during those years. And later, when they needed Islamabad to push the Taliban towards talks, the entire international community, with the exception of India of course, dropped such charges because it suited them. And now, when things are going against them once again, they find nothing more convenient than to dump the rot, as always, on Pakistan. We need to be a lot more proactive than we have been so far because events in another country, which are completely beyond our control, are causing us political as well as economic damage. That investors are hesitant in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Kabul is understandable given the region’s unstable history. But for such things to continue to cast a long, dark shadow over Pakistan’s economy is unfair and needs to be challenged. And it is up to the government of the day to make its case before international investors. Needless to say, of course, that such tasks are made much easier when there is less red tape and greater ease of doing business in the country to start with. Because it doesn’t really help if we bend over backwards to get smart money into our economy, only to watch it leave out of sheer frustration more than anything else most of the time. So perhaps there is a way to use the Afghan situation to our advantage and remove the bottlenecks that exist in our business and diplomatic processes. *