While asking Musharraf to do more on curbing cross-border terrorism on both its eastern and western frontiers, Singh and Karzai need to encourage Pakistan to work with them in promoting regional stability.

Neither Singh nor Karzai wish away the geographic reality of Pakistan, which shares unstable frontiers with both. They need to underline the reality that a win-win game for all three could be constructed in the north-western parts of the sub-continent if Pakistan discards its old ways of using geography to gain trans-border political influence.

As Pakistan faces new turmoil in Balochistan and the Afghan civil war spills over into Waziristan, it is in Islamabad’s interest to build cooperative relationships with New Delhi and Kabul.

The million dollar question before Singh and Karzai is how to get Pakistan act in its own long-term self-interest.