Analysis: Pakistan's Troubled Leader
Council on Foreign Relations
September 8, 2006
Prepared by: Lionel Beehner
A number of recent events have returned unwanted attention to Pakistan and raised questions about President Pervez Musharraf’s reliability as an ally in the U.S.-led “war on terror.” A rise in cross-border attacks by a resurgent Taliban against U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan has prompted accusations that Pakistani security forces are doing little to root out insurgents (USA Today). Musharraf flew to Kabul to take up the matter with President Hamid Karzai (Dawn), whose relations with Pakistan are strained over security issues. Separately, a Pakistani military strike killed nationalist Baluch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, setting off a wave of protest and violence. Some experts wonder if the assault was a mistake, while at least one suggests the conspiratorial presence of a “foreign hand” (Daily News & Analysis India).
Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s embattled leader has proven unable—or unwilling, some say—to locate Osama bin Laden, rumored to be occupying a cave on Pakistani soil. A truce signed between Islamist militants in northern Waziristan—where some believe the elusive leader of al-Qaeda is hiding—and the government to end cross-border attacks and strikes against military installations has left some U.S. officials worried. They are concerned the accord might be used to grant safe haven to terrorists like bin Laden, provided they, as one Pakistani general put it, behave as “peaceful citizen[s]” (BBC).
Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.
Copyright 2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.
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