Musharraf Loses Credibility with America Also

[PartTimePongo]

Having played games over terrorism for several years, Pakistan's military establishment now faces a crisis of credibility with the United States, despite their close military and political bonds.

The gap between Gen. Pervez Musharraf's promises and his refusal to deliver has widened to an extent that his long-time benefactor feels compelled to warn him to behave, or else, suffer the consequences of playing a double game, including stoppage of military and economic aid.

While Vice-President Dick Cheney bluntly told him to cooperate with NATO forces in flushing out Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who have infiltrated southern Afghanistan, both Houses of the US Congress have passed resolutions pressing Islamabad to do more than it was doing in the fight against Islamist extremists, who have crossed over in hundreds from sanctuaries inside Pakistan and are trying to destabilize the country.

Nobody believes that the so-called peace deal entered into by Gen. Musharraf with Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and their tribal sympathizers has the remotest chance of success. In fact, Al Qaeda and Taliban training and related facilities have increased as a result of the "surrender" deal.

Washington now seems to be considering reducing its dependence on the ability of Musharraf to fight terrorism and taking recourse to alternative strategies. It has replaced the commander of its forces in Afghanistan and the appointment of Gen. K. M. McNeili has been welcomed by the Afghan Government. "We will quit neither post, nor mission until the job is done," he said on the eve of launching the much-awaited Spring offensive against Taliban in Helmand and other southern provinces.

With President Hamid Karzai having gone to town condemning Pakistan for promoting terrorism to destabilize his government, his Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta publicly accuses Islamabad of "using terror as its foreign policy. Under Taliban, Pakistan virtually controlled 80 per cent of Afghanistan's territory," and it is trying hard to establish its hold once again. He regrets that some countries are "rewarding" Pakistan with economic and military aid even after getting solid proof of its active involvement with Al Qaeda and Taliban.

At any rate, Musharraf has been put on notice by the United States which is unprepared to stand any more nonsense about his involvement in promoting Taliban and Al Qaeda. It is time for him to change to prevent Pakistan from sliding into mayhem and anarchy.

http://www.businessportal24.com/en/Musharraf_Loses_Credibility_America_Also_152140.html

 

[Bergen]

Having played games over terrorism for several years, Pakistan's military establishment now faces a crisis of credibility with the United States, despite their close military and political bonds.

The gap between Gen. Pervez Musharraf's promises and his refusal to deliver has widened to an extent that his long-time benefactor feels compelled to warn him to behave, or else, suffer the consequences of playing a double game, including stoppage of military and economic aid.

While Vice-President Dick Cheney bluntly told him to cooperate with NATO forces in flushing out Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who have infiltrated southern Afghanistan, both Houses of the US Congress have passed resolutions pressing Islamabad to do more than it was doing in the fight against Islamist extremists, who have crossed over in hundreds from sanctuaries inside Pakistan and are trying to destabilize the country.

Nobody believes that the so-called peace deal entered into by Gen. Musharraf with Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders and their tribal sympathizers has the remotest chance of success. In fact, Al Qaeda and Taliban training and related facilities have increased as a result of the "surrender" deal.

Washington now seems to be considering reducing its dependence on the ability of Musharraf to fight terrorism and taking recourse to alternative strategies. It has replaced the commander of its forces in Afghanistan and the appointment of Gen. K. M. McNeili has been welcomed by the Afghan Government. "We will quit neither post, nor mission until the job is done," he said on the eve of launching the much-awaited Spring offensive against Taliban in Helmand and other southern provinces.

With President Hamid Karzai having gone to town condemning Pakistan for promoting terrorism to destabilize his government, his Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta publicly accuses Islamabad of "using terror as its foreign policy. Under Taliban, Pakistan virtually controlled 80 per cent of Afghanistan's territory," and it is trying hard to establish its hold once again. He regrets that some countries are "rewarding" Pakistan with economic and military aid even after getting solid proof of its active involvement with Al Qaeda and Taliban.

At any rate, Musharraf has been put on notice by the United States which is unprepared to stand any more nonsense about his involvement in promoting Taliban and Al Qaeda. It is time for him to change to prevent Pakistan from sliding into mayhem and anarchy.

http://www.businessportal24.com/en/Musharraf_Loses_Credibility_America_Also_152140.html

Musharraf is toast. There have been multiple assassination attempts on him and it's only a matter of time before one succeeds. He has spent years trying to walk the very fine line between appeasing the USA and losing the last vestiges of his support in Pakistan; amongst the people and his own senior officers.

The more pressure the USA put on him to toe the line the worse he appears to his domestic audience and his recent dismissal of Pakistan's Chief Judge and the ensuing riots may be the tipping point.

RM

 

[golden_rivet]

Musharraf has been caught for a long time between a rock and a hard place. A fairly canny leader at times and certainly better than some of those he succeeded he has tried to walk a tightrope between his own vociferous religious extremists and the USA.

I find it interesting to compare India and Pakistan. When studying history I was forcibly struck by the waste of resources that the Kashmir conflict and the internal cessesionist groups within both counties represented. I used to think of course that Britain was largely to blame for botching our withdrawal. Having operated in the region for so long it seemed a terrible indictment of colonial rule that we cared so little as to do it so badly.

Great thing of course hindsight but the size of the countries concerned is perhaps one reason for the lawlessness of both India and Pakistan in spite of a veneer of development in India. Creating about 4 countries in the region was considered at one time and is in my opinion an interesting proposition. Playing counterfactuals with history is great, another one I like is to consider the different balance of power if the State of Israel hadn't been created: how would the return of Jews and other persecuted peoples to their homes have affected Europe? Would it have been forced to confront its racism rather than just to blame Germany and sweep the problem under the carpet? Would the reintegration of displace peoples have provided an impulse for the great powers to work together rather than the waste of resources represented by the cold war arms race and the pressure cooker effect of the ethnic repression which accompanied it whose consequences have been sadly so evident since the wall came down?

Anyway I digress ... it has to be said though that demonstrations and effigy burning are not perhaps as significant as in some other countries, one day the president, the next day the coach of the national cricket team ... seems like both topics raise the populist temperature. Pity we can't solve all our problems on the cricket field, mind you wouldn't put money on England regaining the Empire were that to be the case

 

[Bergen]

Musharraf has been caught for a long time between a rock and a hard place. A fairly canny leader at times and certainly better than some of those he succeeded he has tried to walk a tightrope between his own vociferous religious extremists and the USA.

I find it interesting to compare India and Pakistan. When studying history I was forcibly struck by the waste of resources that the Kashmir conflict and the internal cessesionist groups within both counties represented. I used to think of course that Britain was largely to blame for botching our withdrawal. Having operated in the region for so long it seemed a terrible indictment of colonial rule that we cared so little as to do it so badly.

Great thing of course hindsight but the size of the countries concerned is perhaps one reason for the lawlessness of both India and Pakistan in spite of a veneer of development in India. Creating about 4 countries in the region was considered at one time and is in my opinion an interesting proposition. Playing counterfactuals with history is great, another one I like is to consider the different balance of power if the State of Israel hadn't been created: how would the return of Jews and other persecuted peoples to their homes have affected Europe? Would it have been forced to confront its racism rather than just to blame Germany and sweep the problem under the carpet? Would the reintegration of displace peoples have provided an impulse for the great powers to work together rather than the waste of resources represented by the cold war arms race and the pressure cooker effect of the ethnic repression which accompanied it whose consequences have been sadly so evident since the wall came down?

Anyway I digress ... it has to be said though that demonstrations and effigy burning are not perhaps as significant as in some other countries, one day the president, the next day the coach of the national cricket team ... seems like both topics raise the populist temperature. Pity we can't solve all our problems on the cricket field, mind you wouldn't put money on England regaining the Empire were that to be the case

CRICKET IS THE OBVIOUS ANSWER RIVET:

And at a hushed cricket ground in Rawalpindi the Pakistani Captain Pervez Musharaff is in the crease. His team mates seem to be heading off for cha in the tastefully decorated, reinforced concrete, neo-colonial club-house well behind the blast shields. There is a murmur in the crowd as the Al-Qaida spin-bowler Abdullah bin Ali Burton lines up at the pavillion end.

All eyes are on the bowler who is known for his suicidal tendencies and many of the crowd must be remembering the previous Pakistani Captain Zia ul-Haq who was bowled out on his maiden over by a very high ball just a few years ago.................

Was that the sound of leather on willow????

RM