Bush Still Publicly Supporting Musharraf

[Aught Six]

Bush backs Pakistan's Musharraf as ex-military leader's support wanes

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It's a shame that Musharraf is on his way out, but it really is unavoidable now. The Pakistanis have all but made up their minds that they want to go back to a more democratic government.

I can understand Bush's frustration, though. Although Musharraf turned out not to beall that effective a leader on the domestic scene,he gave the U.S.free-flowing intel, and let us conduct some very covert ops in the country. The newly elected parliamentary leaders are democratic, sure, but to them, democracy includes active negotiations with the Taliban.

In the context of the war on terrorism, the power struggles we're seeing in Islamabad today are not good for our objectives. Pakistan ishaving economic problems like everyone else in the world, which makes the politics even more volatile. Now is the time for stability, and I think stability ends with Musharraf.

[AmateurHunter44857]

I wasn't that big of fan of Musharaff, especially as info started coming out that he was allowing Al-Qaeda operatives to operate not only in mountain villages but some bigger cities and didn't really do anything to stop it.

[Aught Six]

The current ruling party in Pakistan, the Pakistan Peoples Party, and its main coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League, openly collaborated, and in some cases supported the Taliban since the mid-90's. They have expressed interest in doing so again and are debating the idea.

Musharraf didn't exactlyallow al Qaeda to operate. Hecouldn't muster the power necessary to confront them in any meaningful way. He did cooperate with us, as I've mentioned, on numerous occasions in our hunt for certain high-profile al Qaeda targets. Despite his inability to enforce military rule in the tribal regions, he was still the best ally in Pakistan we've ever had.

Things are now going to get worse for us, and better for al Qaeda...