“All I want to say on the subject is if only the number of visits to a restive area resolves problems…”
“Well, over more than 20 years of US military presence in Afghanistan and all US presidents, even Trump who did the unthinkable on most matters to put it mildly, visited Afghanistan albeit all visits were unannounced due to security threats; and with the US forces still packing up the country is being taken over by the Taliban and…”
“The US presidents went to visit US troops not the Afghans on the street so to speak…”
“Yes, but however many visits by the head of a government to a restive country or region has never stabilized – the Afghan supervised electoral process…”
“I tell you if only they start using the machines!”
“Don’t be facetious - I can just about imagine what would be the fate of those machines in Afghanistan…”
“Right, but anyway I wasn’t referring to the visit of a US President to Afghanistan when I said the number of visits to a restive area does not resolve problems; I was referring to The Khan’s statement comparing the number of his visits to Balochistan with those of his predecessors but three years into his tenure issues remain unresolved…”
“Oh, I guess The Khan was implying that his predecessors loved to visit the West what with discos and night clubs and…”
“I take strong exception to that innuendo! I mean I cannot imagine Zardari sahib discoing away or Mian Sahib for that matter…”
“I can imagine Mian Sahib going to a karaoke bar and singing Mohammad Rafi songs or perhaps even Mehdi Hassan songs and Zardari sahib going to a nice high end restaurant…”
“Mian Sahib has been seen in Harrod’s eating pizza and drinking coffee…”
“Hey we have pizza joints in Pakistan…he never visited any here…”
“Right, but in Harrods he takes his Deputy with him – I mean Ishaq Dar who I have on authority tells him the cost of whatever he buys in rupees and…”
“I heard he quotes two rates – one the current rupee rate and one when Dar had artificially kept the rupee high…”
“I can believe that.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021