Aug 19 2008
As I Suspected, Musharraf’s Resignation Was Part Of Pak Deal Continue To Hunt Terrorists
Yep, Musharraf stepped down in return for a pledge from Pakistan to hunt al-Qaeda and the Taliban:
Diplomatic sources in Washington described President Bush as Mr Musharraf’s “last holdout†in the US capital. Others in the Bush administration — including Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — had long given up on Mr Musharraf. But Mr Bush remained faithful to the person he considered a close ally and a personal friend.
The person who played a key role in persuading Mr Musharraf’s supporters in the Bush administration to stop backing the Pakistani leader is the US ambassador in Islamabad, Anne W. Patterson.
Ambassador Patterson argued that if Washington continued supporting Mr Musharraf it would end up stoking massive anti-American feelings in Pakistan.
She also held a series of meetings with coalition leaders, particularly PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, and received assurances from them that Mr Musharraf’s departure would not undermine primary US interests in Pakistan and that Islamabad would continue to fight Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in Fata, as it did before.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen also stayed engaged with the Pakistanis, making three trips to Pakistan after the Feb 18 elections, including a secret visit in July.
In his meetings with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Admiral Mullen sought, and received, direct assurance from him that Mr Musharraf’s departure would not reduce Pakistan’s role in the war on terror.
Personally, I think it was smart to remove Musharraf as the whipping boy against US policies regarding terrorists. Now the Pak leaders can’t point the finger of blame at Musharraf and they still have to clean out the cesspool of evil in the tribal areas of their country. Â Musharraf deserves to have a nice peaceful retirement, he did us good since 9-11.
I had always felt that he would be killed. The big concern now is will Pakistan really fight terror and it’s ideology? Many people within Pakistan support the Islamic ideology that is behind the Taliban. I intend to keep watching Pakistan to see if that view prevails.
Pardon this for being off the subject of the thread, but since you often comment on the hoax of ‘global warming’ I think this will be of interest:
For the whole story, go here
Sorry, AJ. Can’t give you gold stars on this conclusion. But I do agree that Musharraf deserves a quiet retirement. Not likely he’ll find that in Pakistan. But he will not leave.
But INRE the retirement skinny…. nothing to do with the beltway and the PM’s visit.
Musharraf promised to resign back in Jan of this year if Nawaz and Zardari drew up the impeachment papers.
Nawaz has been hot on Zardari’s tail to do just that, and they’ve been licking their chops for the past weeks on the increased support. When the Army didn’t back Musharraf, it was over.
Pakistani’s don’t give a whit if Bush was the last US Musharraf fan. And they’ve been promising to “hunt” AQ and terrorists since they took office… inbetween all those back room truces they signed and Taliban terrorists they’ve released, that is.
This was bound to happen. Only a matter of time.
Supposedly they have to have an election within 30 days. But Zardari promises the winner will be from the PPP. (huh??? that’s an election???) And the rumour is he wants that gig for himself. That’s why they haven’t reversed some of the powers they complained Musharraf had. Zardari may want those same powers for himself.
Pakistan will be the next POTUS’s biggest challenge. Been saying that for months. This new PPP and PML-N coalition govt ain’t worth sheeeeeeet.