Posted on 03/09/2006 7:59:16 AM PST by aculeus
In private huddles with American interlocutors, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf agrees, in principle, with any U.S. concept or notional future option for the war on terrorism. No sooner is the U.S. visitor airborne than survival instincts dictate how fighting is done every step of the way.
In Pakistan, the military ruler's "yes" or "no" is only an interim response. This convoluted modus operandi prompted President Bush, on his 24-hour, first-time visit to a Pakistani capital city in total lockdown, to say, "Part of my mission today was to determine whether or not the president is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice, and he is." But Mr. Musharraf is also hemmed in by six politico-religious parties -- known as the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal, or MMA coalition -- that govern the two provinces that border Afghanistan and whose followers sympathize with al Qaeda and Taliban.
A pariah under the Clinton administration, Pakistan's promotion to "major non-NATO ally" by Mr. Bush applies primarily to Pervez Musharraf. The people he rules are overwhelmingly anti-U.S., and, according to public opinion surveys, trust Osama bin Laden more than President Bush. Mr. Musharraf's perpetual motion machine is a death-defying balancing act between pleasing Mr. Bush and not provoking the pro-jihadist elements that run Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province, control 25 percent of the federal assembly, and see Mr. Bush as the villain and bin Laden as the hero.
In India, Mr. Bush has a 70 percent favorable rating; in Pakistan, it's 70 percent unfavorable. MMA leaders Sami ul-Haq and Fazlur Rehman kept repeating publicly and in the media Mr. Bush is in Islamabad "to reward Musharraf for having enslaved Pakistan to Bush's dictates."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
If Pakistan does not cooperate, there does not need to be a Pakistan.
"A pariah under the Clinton administration, Pakistan's promotion to "major non-NATO ally" by Mr. Bush applies primarily to Pervez Musharraf. The people he rules are overwhelmingly anti-U.S., and, according to public opinion surveys, trust Osama bin Laden more than President Bush."
I hope I'm wrong but this feels like Iran under Ford and Carter.
I wish it was that simple. Pakistan exists and will continue to. They have nukes. There are over 160 million people there. There are many poor Pakistanis with little hope for success who would love to be a part of something glorious. Many of them hate non-Muslims and America in particular. Pakistan is a huge problem.
Times change and geographies change. Pakistan is not immutable. Borders can be redrawn if only to make the world a safer place.
Pakistan is an artificially created state of the Brits in 1947 because they thought that Hindus and Muslims could not coexist.
Today Pakistan has a ruler, Musharraf, who was born in India, and India has a Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, who was born in Pakistan.
If partition can be undone in Germany why not in India-Pakistan?
From the 1970's onwards, the Pakistan Army under Zia Ul Haq created the Taliban. They better clean it up, public opinion or not.
No thanks. We don't want the crazy jehadis to ruin our democracy and secular ethics.
India can handle them dont worry. ;)
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