Can Pakistan return from the brink?

Pakistan's Supreme Court is clearing the last obstacles to confirming the re-election of President Pervez Musharraf. But Musharraf has to go if Pakistan is to be saved, said The Washington Post. The U.S. tried acting as "marriage broker" between

What happened

Pakistan’s Supreme Court, packed with allies of President Pervez Musharraf, dismissed most of the challenges to Musharraf’s re-election Monday. Musharraf has promised to resign as army chief once his election is confirmed. He also promised to hold parliamentary elections in January, although opposition leaders said the voting wouldn’t be fair unless he lifted emergency rule. (The New York Times, free registration)

What the commentators said

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Musharraf has to go if Pakistan is to be saved, said The Washington Post in an editorial (free registration). Every big step he has taken recently “has been aimed at preserving his hold on power, at the expense of his country.” The Bush administration should realize that its best interest lies in siding with democratic forces in Pakistan, not in propping up a ruler the people don’t want.

The U.S. tried serving as “a marriage broker” between Musharraf and the opposition, said H.D.S. Greenway in The Boston Globe (free registration), but that was “spectacularly unsuccessful.” The U.S. got Musharraf to drop corruption charges against opposition politician Benazir Bhutto so she could return from exile. Musharraf promptly put his “bartered bride” under house arrest, making a “failed prime minister” look like a hero of democracy.

Now Washington is gambling on a new policy, said The Dallas Morning News in an editorial. The U.S. military is going to try to enlist “religiously conservative tribesmen” in northern Pakistan to fight Taliban and al Qaida fighters near the Afghan border. The strategy worked in Iraq, where Sunni tribesmen have helped fight al Qaida, but “adding guns to an already volatile mix is a risky way to pull Pakistan back from the brink.”

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us