{"id":4413,"date":"2008-08-19T13:42:02","date_gmt":"2008-08-19T12:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/?p=4413"},"modified":"2008-08-19T13:42:02","modified_gmt":"2008-08-19T12:42:02","slug":"us-pledges-to-support-new-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/politics\/us-pledges-to-support-new-government\/","title":{"rendered":"US pledges to support new government"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erika Niedowski<\/a> | WASHINGTON \/\/ Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, effectively bade farewell yesterday to a critical ally in the US war on terrorism, Pervez Musharraf, and pledged US support to the new government in Pakistan and to bolstering the country\u2019s democratic reforms.<\/p>\n

Ms Rice called Mr Musharraf, who resigned rather than fight impeachment proceedings even though he denied the charges against him, \u201cone of the world\u2019s most committed partners in the war against terrorism and extremism\u201d and said he had made the \u201ccritical choice\u201d to join the US fight against al Qa\u2019eda and the Taliban.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to work with the Pakistani government and political leaders and urge them to redouble their focus on Pakistan\u2019s future and its most urgent needs, including stemming the growth of extremism, addressing food and energy shortages and improving economic stability,\u201d Ms Rice said in a statement. \u201cThe United States will help with these efforts to see Pakistan reach its goal of becoming a stable, prosperous, democratic, modern, Muslim nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some experts said Mr Musharraf\u2019s resignation, even while ushering in a period of uncertainty both in Pakistan and in Washington, provides the United States a new opening to forge stronger and more constructive ties with a strategic partner that despite Ms Rice\u2019s rhetoric has not always been the most reliable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be seen as an opportunity,\u201d said Karin von Hippel, co-director of the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played a very fundamental role in the transition away from Musharraf to the coalition government,\u201d she said, calling it a \u201cquiet, behind the scenes\u201d role. \u201cThis is a job we should be doing, and we should have done it the whole time. It\u2019s getting back to Diplomacy 101 \u2014 or it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gone will be the personal bond between George W Bush and Mr Musharraf. But gone too will be the way that bond seemed at times to serve as a kind of shield against some of Mr Musharraf\u2019s shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Pakistan, which severed relations with the Taliban government in Afghanistan after September 11, arrested hundreds of members of the Taliban and al Qa\u2019eda since then. It deployed troops to the mountainous tribal areas near the Afghan border and provided critical support for US and Nato forces. The United States, in return, delivered billions of dollars of military aid.<\/p>\n

But critics here have long said Pakistan has not done nearly enough to quash the groups and prevent suicide attacks, and they have questioned Mr Musharraf\u2019s allegiance to the US cause. In seeking to keep Mr Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, as an ally, they say, the United States has been too willing to overlook his deficiencies.<\/p>\n

Last month, things reached a breaking point of sorts when the United States alleged that Pakistan\u2019s Inter-Services Intelligence agency had aided in the planning of an attack against the Indian Embassy in Kabul. By late last week, the Bush administration seemed to be distancing itself from Mr Musharraf, saying Pakistan\u2019s leadership was an internal matter.<\/p>\n

Naeem Salik, a visiting scholar in South Asia studies at the Johns Hopkins\u2019 School for Advanced International Studies and a retired brigadier general in the Pakistani army, said there has been some \u201cunease\u201d in Washington in losing the seasoned Mr Musharraf as an ally \u2014 if a not altogether reliable one.<\/p>\n

But the two countries are on the path towards a continued strong alliance, Mr Salik said, even if under new leadership both in Pakistan and in the United States, which will also have a new president come January.<\/p>\n

Mr Bush and the Pakistani prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, appeared together at the White House to say as much last month. The same day, a Senate panel approved a massive aid package worth US$7 billion (Dh26bn) over the next five years for non-military assistance, receipt of which will be linked to progress in internal reforms. John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator who was the Democratic Party\u2019s 2004 nominee for president, called the funding a \u201cdown payment\u201d in the fight against radical extremism in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Ms Von Hippel, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, does expect one change in the countries\u2019 relationship. She expects that the new government will try to avoid the criticism that was ultimately one of Mr Musharraf\u2019s downfalls: that he was too closely aligned with the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the new leaders are trying to demonstrate their independence from America,\u201d she said, \u201cbecause they really don\u2019t want to be seen as being controlled by America.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent language from Mr Gilani bears that out. Writing in The Washington Post in April, he pledged that while the elimination of terrorism will be his government\u2019s top priority. \u201cPakistan must fight terrorism for Pakistan\u2019s sake.\u201d In other words: the war on terrorism must be Islamabad\u2019s, not Washington\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Some of that might just be rhetoric. Pakistan knows it needs US assistance, Ms von Hippel said, not just to fight extremism within its borders but also to build its economy and democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know they need our help to make a lot of that happen,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ll still work very closely with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Erika Niedowski | WASHINGTON \/\/ Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, effectively bade farewell yesterday to a critical ally in the US war on terrorism, Pervez Musharraf, and pledged US support to the new government in Pakistan and to bolstering the country\u2019s democratic reforms. Ms Rice called Mr Musharraf, who resigned rather than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[64],"class_list":{"0":"post-4413","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-politics","7":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}