Word: zardari
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...President Asif Ali Zardari and his seven month-old civilian government have given priority to combating militancy, and having abandoned failed negotiations with the Pakistan Taliban, the army is currently fighting militants in the notorious arms manufacturing town of Darra Adam Khel, the scenic Swat Valley, and most visibly in the Bajaur tribal area. Although the U.S. NIE reportedly criticizes the Pakistan army for a "reluctance" to launch an all-out confrontation with the militants, military spokesmen point out that the Pakistan army has lost over 1,500 troops since it began confronting militants on its own soil. And they...
...Nearly twenty years since a Pakistan-backed insurgency began to fight India for either Kashmiri independence or a merger with Pakistan - a conflict that has claimed over 68,000 lives - feelings are still strong. When Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari, who has been keen to develop stronger ties with Pakistan's neighbours, recently told an interviewer that India had "never been a threat" to Pakistan and labeled as "terrorists" the Islamist militants who had fought India in Kashmir with the backing of the Pakistani military, there was outrage in Pakistan and among Kashmiris on the Indian side of the Line...
...Enter China. With nearly $2 trillion amassed in foreign currency holdings, China's government had the largesse this week to grant Zardari an immediate soft loan of upwards of $1 billion, according to a report in the Financial Times. "As a long friend of Pakistan, China understands it is facing some financial difficulties," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang at a briefing with journalists on Oct. 16. Other new measures include the increase of access Pakistani goods will have in China's markets as well as agreements to launch special economic zones within Pakistan with tax incentives for Chinese...
...Beyond this, Zardari's strengthening of ties with Beijing sends a clear signal to the U.S. On Oct. 8, Washington concluded a landmark nuclear energy deal with India - a pact that upset both Beijing and Islamabad, in part because it enabled India to skirt international regulations regarding the purchase of nuclear fuel, something the U.S. has ruled out offering Pakistan. Su Hao, professor of Asia-Pacific studies at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, says China's foreign policy establishment is "highly concerned about the U.S.-India contract, because it was a unilateral decision...
...Still, a geopolitical Cold War is not at hand. The fate of Pakistan's government remains tightly bound to the White House, and China's booming trade with India is exponentially more lucrative than its transactions with Pakistan. Zardari's trip this week, though, is a sign of the many poles springing up in the multi-polar 21st century. Su of China Foreign Affairs University insists shoring up Pakistan's economic and industrial prospects can only be good for its historic foe. "Pakistan is such an important anti-terrorism frontier," he says. "Instability there will jeopardize the safety...