Other reasons to stabilise bilateral relations are obvious.

As the communiqu from the state visit makes plain, the United States has helped Pakistan to deal with its energ dilemmas far more than !hina. "his has barel been noticed in the current phase of anti# Americanism within Pakistan. $ilitar assistance continues, but has shifted % and will shift still more % awa from hardware associated with conventional warfare to helping Pakistan&s militar deal with e'tremists who kill at a rate that dwarfs that of drone warfare. As long as it is easier within Pakistan to rail against drones than for the Pakistani militar to take action against the targets of drone strikes, our two nations will remain onl partial and troubled partners in countering violent e'tremism. (nternal and e'ternal securit threats are linked, of course. )ut internal cohesion can onl be accentuated b missteps in Afghanistan or in dealings with (ndia. (n Pakistan, internal securit is of paramount importance, as *en +a ani repeatedl sa s. "o the outside world, Pakistan&s efforts in this regard are overshadowed b those who use its soil to carr out violent acts across borders. (t&s hard to recognise mistakes, and even harder to engineer course corrections. "here is good reason to suspect that Afghanistan is too fractious a place for ambitious state# building. A grand Afghan political settlement is likel to remain ephemeral or illusive. ,amiliar divides will reappear because the have never gone awa . -hatever chips Pakistan&s national securit managers might tr to pla in an Afghan settlement have not rewarded Pakistan in the past, and are unlikel to help Pakistan find a brighter future. "wo generations of Pakistani strategic anal sts have held the mirage that Afghanistan provides strategic depth, when the reverse has proven to be true. Pakistan has been destabilised b its own and b US. misadventures in Afghanistan, and could be destabilised further if (ndia gains a foothold there to use as a staging ground to support disaffection in )alochistan. A role reversal of this kind, mirroring (ndia&s decades#long misfortunes in +ashmir, could onl multipl Pakistan&s domestic woes. A political settlement, if one can be found, will have to tackle this issue which, in turn, requires improved ties between Pakistan and (ndia. .awa/ Sharif has great s mpath and support in -ashington. "he Obama administration will continue to provide assistance to tackle Pakistan&s economic, energ and internal securit woes. ,irst impressions in -ashington, as in Pakistan, suggest a man hobbled b the immensit of his countr &s problems and the obstacles that others so easil place in his path.

0ast month, at the margins of U. *eneral Assembl speechmaking, he and (ndian Prime $inister $anmohan Singh promised to quiet e'changes of fire across the +ashmir divide. "hese flares appear to outsiders as contrived to prevent .awa/ from pursuing what he so clearl wants % improved relations and greater direct trade with (ndia. As long as firing across the +ashmir divide continues, it suggests opposition to this agenda, which is critical to Pakistan&s well#being. $ore difficult, b orders of magnitude, will be taking action against e'tremists that are driving up Pakistan&s death toll. 0eaving aside countries like S ria which are in the throes of a civil war, Pakistan now ranks above Afghanistan, and second onl to (raq, in fatalities due to sectarian violence. The writer is co-founder of the Stimson Centre in Washington.