U.S. Seeks Alternative To Musharraf
Amid the flap of the "intelligence failure" in Pakistan which resulted in the death by predator of 17 people, but not the intended target, there is a report that the U.S. has tired of Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, a well connected Pakistani journalist, writes in Asia Times Online of the change of heart towards Musharraf, who was until now considered to be our man in Islamabad.
According to sources close to the power corridors in Washington who spoke to Asia Times Online, the administration of US President George W Bush is now convinced that a weaker Pakistani army is as necessary now as a powerful one was when Islamabad did a U-turn on its support for the Taliban soon after September 11, 2001.
This realization has taken root over the past few months, and developments since last November have been enough to set alarm bells ringing among the military leadership of Pakistan...
According to a contact who spoke to Asia Times Online, a person close to the US Central Intelligence Agency paid a low-profile visit to New Delhi in the third week of December and briefed strategic planners on Washington's plan to try to curtail the role of the Pakistani army, while at the same time renewing support for democratic forces in Pakistan...
The same person then visited Islamabad and held high-level meetings with political personalities. On his return to the US he stopped over in Dubai in the UAE and held detailed meetings with former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, who lives there.
A sudden upsurge in the activities in Pakistan of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy - which Bhutto supports - followed.
This does kind of make sense. The U.S. is usually quite comfortable with corrupt politicians.
On the domestic front, the Musharraf administration in essence facilitated the formation of the the six-party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which made impressive political gains in the general elections of 2002.
The aim was to scare the Americans by pointing to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism in order to garner US support for Musharraf's uniform.
Similarly, the sweeping defeat of the MMA in local elections late last year amid widespread claims of fraud was to show the Americans that Musharraf had the ability to outwit fundamentalism. In this game, Musharraf's split vision does not allow him to visualize what kind of a message he is really passing on to Washington.
According to Asia Times Online information, Washington has now decided that the best outcome would be for a new man to replace Musharraf, 64, as chief of army staff, and at the same time to encourage liberal democratic forces to take over parliament.
I don't see Washington throwing Musharraf to the wolves quite yet. U.S./Pakistani relations have taken a turn for the worse in the last couple of days, and having our military strongman in charge at least for the short run seems to be our only option.
Syed Saleem Shahzad, a well connected Pakistani journalist, writes in Asia Times Online of the change of heart towards Musharraf, who was until now considered to be our man in Islamabad.
According to sources close to the power corridors in Washington who spoke to Asia Times Online, the administration of US President George W Bush is now convinced that a weaker Pakistani army is as necessary now as a powerful one was when Islamabad did a U-turn on its support for the Taliban soon after September 11, 2001.
This realization has taken root over the past few months, and developments since last November have been enough to set alarm bells ringing among the military leadership of Pakistan...
According to a contact who spoke to Asia Times Online, a person close to the US Central Intelligence Agency paid a low-profile visit to New Delhi in the third week of December and briefed strategic planners on Washington's plan to try to curtail the role of the Pakistani army, while at the same time renewing support for democratic forces in Pakistan...
The same person then visited Islamabad and held high-level meetings with political personalities. On his return to the US he stopped over in Dubai in the UAE and held detailed meetings with former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, who lives there.
A sudden upsurge in the activities in Pakistan of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy - which Bhutto supports - followed.
This does kind of make sense. The U.S. is usually quite comfortable with corrupt politicians.
On the domestic front, the Musharraf administration in essence facilitated the formation of the the six-party alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which made impressive political gains in the general elections of 2002.
The aim was to scare the Americans by pointing to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism in order to garner US support for Musharraf's uniform.
Similarly, the sweeping defeat of the MMA in local elections late last year amid widespread claims of fraud was to show the Americans that Musharraf had the ability to outwit fundamentalism. In this game, Musharraf's split vision does not allow him to visualize what kind of a message he is really passing on to Washington.
According to Asia Times Online information, Washington has now decided that the best outcome would be for a new man to replace Musharraf, 64, as chief of army staff, and at the same time to encourage liberal democratic forces to take over parliament.
I don't see Washington throwing Musharraf to the wolves quite yet. U.S./Pakistani relations have taken a turn for the worse in the last couple of days, and having our military strongman in charge at least for the short run seems to be our only option.
posted by Effwit at 10:52 AM
6 Comments:
My guess is that this latest fiasco will drive another nail in the coffin of this Pakistani leader....but he will be replaced by someone who is less friendly to America.
Visit me to see an account of the mission.
Wadena:
You are probably right.
America's new nightmare: The Muslim nuke in the hands of a leader who is not on the CIA payroll.
I would tend to agree with Wadena and Effwit...that's usually how our cookies crumble after stints of micromanagement of foreign lands.
Meatball One:
One bright spot for the U.S. is that we must at this point have a majority of the Pakistani military on the payroll, despite them being freedom hatin' Muslims one and all.
That's got to count for something, right?
I read a recent article saying that Pakistani intelligence was involved in the recent bombing. My understanding has been that Musharraf and the ISI have been on the outs with one another.
Could the bombing "miss" have been an intentional "miss" helped by "poor" intel from the ISI in order to build Pakistani animosity toward Musharraf? I suspect ISI wouldn't be too broken up if Musharraf looks bad for his support of the U.S.
Or, does the U.S. now want to make Musharraf look bad. That seems possible, but at the same time they're also making themselves look bad. Cutting off one's nose to spite one's face?
Drew L:
As we have discussed in the past, the ISI is a treacherous bunch.
They could very easily be playing us against Musharraf for their own institutional reasons.
If I recall correctly there is supposed to be a "white hat" vs. "black hat" factional war within the ISI itself.
That would further complicate any analysis of this episode.
All we can know for sure is that the U.S. will be catching hell (rightfully IMO) over the fuckup.
Post a Comment
<< Home