Word: musharraf
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Musharraf found himself juggling political allies in search of a patina of legitimacy and manipulating elections as popular opinion turned against him, largely on the basis of his alliance with Washington. Moreover, the new reality in Afghanistan prompted the Pakistani security forces to begin playing what was essentially a double game. Despite its alliance with Washington, the Pakistani strategic establishment was not willing to accept the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, which was closely allied with India, as an established power in Kabul. So, despite professing support for the NATO effort in Afghanistan, Pakistan continued to serve as the Taliban...
...confronted widening opposition at home, Musharraf faced a key challenge emanating from overseas when his term ended last November. Washington appeared to have negotiated a compromise political deal in which Musharraf would share power with Benazir Bhutto, in an alliance that the U.S. hoped would stave off domestic opposition and strengthen Musharraf's ability to confront radicalism. But the deal floundered even before Bhutto's assassination last December. The general, once a symbol of the power of the military, had begun to believe that he was indispensable, and had moved to ride roughshod over all constitutional and legal challenges...
Despite the cathartic effect of Musharraf's ouster, it's unlikely to bring progress on the issues that matter most to the West. A civilian President and government is unlikely to be any more effective than Musharraf in response to rising militancy or in curbing the Taliban - indeed, the government has made clear that it favors a less confrontational attitude to the Islamists than Musharraf had taken. And, as frustrating as Musharraf had been to the U.S. on issues ranging from jihadist militancy to nuclear proliferation by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan, as long as he was in power, there...
...Pakistan, even as that nation begins a sensitive political transition. In an interview with TIME in Kabul, Hamid Karzai said the way to fix Afghanistan is to fix things in Pakistan. "Arrivals and departures don't matter much," said Karzai, coolly referring to the resignation of his counterpart, Pervez Musharraf, with whom he had particularly testy relations. "What matters is institutional corrections." His government has exchanged increasingly harsh words with Islamabad over the past few months, alleging a Pakistani hand in Afghanistan's security problems. He was particularly pointed about Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. "If Pakistan...
While wishing Musharraf's successor as head of government well, Karzai also held out an olive branch to General Ashfaq Kayani, Musharraf's successor as head of the Pakistani military - a position that remains a center of power in that country. Kayani visited the U.S. Air Force base at Bagram today, and Karzai said he spoke to the Pakistani general to welcome him. He said he told Kayani that "Afghanistan cannot achieve peace or prosperity without friendly relations with Pakistan." He added, "I hope [Kayani] recognizes that what they are doing [in terms of supporting militancy in Afghanistan] is causing...