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Analysis: U.S. Officials Mull Pakistan Position

Council on Foreign Relations

Updated November 6, 2007
Author: Jayshree Bajoria

The United States responded cautiously to the November 3 news that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf had declared a state of emergency (Dawn), suspending the country's constitution and giving himself the right to rule by decree. President Bush called on Musharraf to hold elections and remove his military uniform as soon as possible. "Previous to his decision we made it clear that these emergency measures would undermine democracy," said Bush. The emergency prompted U.S. officials to announce they would review (Reuters) the terms of the foreign aid the United States provides Pakistan. But follow-up comments by officials in the Bush administration signalled substantial reductions of U.S. aid to Pakistan are not in the cards (NYT). Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said President Bush's first concern remained "to protect America" and added: "We have to be very cognizant of the fact that some of the assistance that has been going to Pakistan is directly related to the counterterrorism mission."

According to the BBC, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum said parliamentary elections will be held as scheduled early next year. CFR Senior Fellow Daniel Markey called it a "very important and positive first step," in this recent interview. Markey said people tend to discount Musharraf 's efforts to fight terrorism but "if you look closely you will see that his effort within his own army to create an institution that was more resistant to those types of extremists has been very significant and very important." But CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow Vali Nasr was less positive in a Christian Science Monitor op-ed, which says Musharraf's Pakistan has not lived up to expectations. "In Pakistan, there is now more violence, extremism, and instability than when Musharraf took over in 1999," he writes.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 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.