Picture of the Day
Pakistani Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao (L) receives US assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Richard Boucher upon his arrival in Islamabad. The United States was accused of meddling in Pakistani affairs amid reports Washington is trying to broker a power-sharing deal between President Pervez Musharraf and his arch-rival Benazir Bhutto.(AFP/Farooq Naeem)
(NYTimes) "As President Pervez Musharraf begins his campaign this week for re-election to another five-year term, senior figures in the governing party have warned that the Supreme Court will almost certainly block his nomination for president and declare it unconstitutional.
American efforts to prod General Musharraf into a power-sharing arrangement with the exiled opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto, as a way for him to continue as president would run into the same difficulty, the politicians said."
posted by mikevotes at
8:50 AM
4 Comments:
This is actually a very clever piece of diplomacy. The US is backing Bhutto because they want Musharraf to win.
By
Anonymous, at 10:06 AM
If it works.
But trying to create a Musharraf Bhutto alliance may backfire.
It highlights Musharraf's weakness.
By
mikevotes, at 1:12 PM
I suppose basically the administration is covering its bets.
By
Anonymous, at 1:53 PM
Yeah, because the two likely outcomes if Musharraf falls are a military coup or the People's Party.
If it's a military coup, they'll do business pretty much like Mush with a few changes.
And if it's the people's party, then the US is on the record trying to bring them back in power.
(And there's no indication that the Islamists would take power. They might claim some territory for awhile in the west, but, despite politician and media comments, they have little mainstream support.)
By
mikevotes, at 3:09 PM
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