Terror exports made in Pakistan

Paying the price for 30 years of short-term thinking

IT is an uncomfortable fact that when it comes to terror the links increasingly lead to the West's new-found nuclear-capable ally, Pakistan. It is where September 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden is believed to have fled, and is possibly still in hiding.

And most recently, leaving aside the terrors of cricket, it is where the roots of the foiled attempt to use liquid bombs to bring down a series of aeroplanes between Britain and the US can ultimately be traced. On the one hand, Western nations see great value in maintaining strategic relations with the military Government of Pervez Musharraf but increasingly the evidence is that Pakistan remains as much the problem as the solution.

While Australian Prime Minister John Howard has publicly praised General Musharraf for joining the war on terror, the Pakistani leader remains a military dictator unwilling to make the transition to civilian rule. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs has advised against unnecessary travel to the country because of terrorism.

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