Fearing Chaos, U.S. Officials Review Stance on Pakistan

[cal04]

The scenes of carnage in Pakistan this week conjured what one senior administration official on Friday called “the nightmare scenario” for President Bush’s last 15 months in office: Political meltdown in the one country where Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and nuclear weapons are all in play.

White House officials insisted in interviews that they had confidence that their longtime ally, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan’s president, would maintain enough control to keep the country stable as he edged toward a power-sharing agreement with his main rival, Benazir Bhutto.

But other current and former officials cautioned that six years after the United States forced General Musharraf to choose sides in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, American leverage over Pakistan is now limited. Though General Musharraf seems likely to survive a multifront challenge to his authority, he is weakened.

His effort at conciliation in Pakistan’s tribal areas, where Al Qaeda and the Taliban are, proved a failure, and his efforts to take them on militarily have so far proved ineffective and politically costly. Almost every major terror attack since 9/11 has been traced back to Pakistani territory, leading many who work in intelligence to believe that Pakistan, not Iraq, is the place Mr. Bush should consider the “central front” in the battle against terrorism. It was also the source of the greatest leakage of nuclear arms technology in modern times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/world/asia/21musharraf.html?hp

[randr]

1. And I suppose no one saw this coming n/c

[monktonman]

2. With friends like Pakistan.....

"Almost every major terror attack since 9/11 has been traced back to Pakistani territory, leading many who work in intelligence to believe that Pakistan, not Iraq, is the place Mr. Bush should consider the “central front” in the battle against terrorism. It was also the source of the greatest leakage of nuclear arms technology in modern times."

....Who need enemies.

[cliss]

3. You better believe they are sweating

in Washington. Pakistan is the 'Joker' in the pack, the Rogue, the country where anything can happen. And probably will.

And ever since Miss Bhutto came to town, things are explosive.

Pervez Musharraf is hanging on by a thread. There is no way he can hang on to his power because there are some signs that the military is turning against him.

Pakistan = the most dangerous country on earth.