If there is one aspect of War on Terror diplomacy that robs administration officials of their sleep more than any other, it is surely the U.S.-Pakistan relationship.

If there is one aspect of War on Terror diplomacy that robs administration officials of their sleep more than any other, it is surely the U.S.-Pakistan relationship. John Negroponte testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in January that "Pakistan is a major source of Islamic extremism." Those Pakistan-based extremists include elements of the Taliban, former rulers of, and present plague of, next-door Afghanistan. That Taliban can cross from their Pakistan refuges into Afghanistan to make trouble there is bad enough at the best of times, but there are now clear signs that they are planning a big spring offensive whose objectives may include attacks on Afghanistan's major cities. What to do? There is an infinity of complicating circumstances, not least among them the 3 million Afghans in refugee camps near the Afghan-Pakistan border (whose precise location, by the way, is disputed). In December, Pakistan's President Musharraf proposed the construction of fences and minefields along sections of that border. The minefields outraged European opinion and have been scotched, but it seems as though the fence will go ahead. If Musharraf does indeed get a fence built, perhaps he might offer consultancy services to our own Department of Homeland Security ...