International Affairs Forum

Tue. July 15, 2025

Around the World, Across the Political Spectrum

Roundtable Forum - IS MUSHARRAF GOOD FOR THE WEST?

International Affairs Forum asked seven Pakistan experts: "Domestic criticism of Pakistani leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf is growing, and almost six years after military action in Afghanistan began, key Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding along the border with Pakistan. But does the U.S. have any real choice but to back Musharraf?"

Comments (3) |

Anonymous

Thu, January 10, 2008 02:29 AM (about 17 years ago)
musharaf is important for west is a question which create many more quetstions in our minds because musharaf is not a name of person but a mind set and a system which is always good for all over the world for america and west because a yes man is more easy to ahandle then a person who argue a lot an always think from his own mind who has a pain for his people. if we see where ever american or western led gorvernments formed then their ultimate agenda is to server their masters and doing so they ignored all the international and humantarian laws made by some of the good people. american short term stratigies for countries like iraq, pakistan and saudi arabia is always made for only islamic countries so that they always remain destabalize.

ssahibzada - United States

Sat, November 03, 2007 06:00 PM (about 17 years ago)
It is so naïve and myopic of the West to expect a ‘military apartheid regime’ to win it a war of ideas. What a shameful disconnect between reality and policy costing the rights of 160 million people and lives of thousands. In the process, the West is losing not just a battle but the whole war. This regime has played the people of Pakistan against the West and vice versa with surgical precision in presenting ‘what it will be’ situations as ‘what it is’ portrayals of the war on terror. Why would the military regime give up its successful yet very economic policy of ‘privatization of jihad’ or restore order by crushing its own product (jihadi outfits) that guarantee the free flow of cash and support from the West?

srizvi - Pakistan

Wed, October 24, 2007 07:25 AM (about 17 years ago)
The question about the suitability of President Pervez Musharraf for fullfilling the western interests, particularly the interests of Washington, seems to have probed the demands of western political expediencies wthin the frame work of Pakistan domestic politics, yet is a question of how the western-dominated interest can ever be the all times fitness formula insofar as the pepole of Pakistan have become highly awrae of the facts that their political leadership has followed the dicates of Washington. Keeping this advocacy in mind, I would positively evalute that to the best of his capabilities, President Mushrraf has done the best job for the west, but the time has come that he could hardly persue such policy any further.

Larry P. Goodson, U.S. Army War College

Response: The answer is "No, not really." The U.S. has always chosen to take the short-term view and back the military leader of the moment in Pakistan, for geo-strategic reasons, when the only thing that can ever bring real stability there is a longer term approach that fosters democratic and economic development (at the expense of the entrenched military that now exists there). I was once meeting in Isl... more

Khalid Hasan, journalist and writer

Response: It is ironic that every time there is an opportunity for the establishment of a genuniely democratic civilian government in Pakistan, the U.S. is found on the side, not of the popular forces working towards that end, but in alliance with those who are on the other side of the divide. This the U.S. does is not because it has a liking for army generals as such, but because the pursuit of its foreign... more

Satish Kumar, India’s Nat. Security Annual Review

Response: The U.S. policy towards Pakistan shows poor understanding of the nature of Pakistani society and the historical processes which have shaped it. It is based on the assumption that the military of Pakistan being the de-facto ruler can deliver on behalf of America and eliminate terrorist forces from the soil of Pakistan, including the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The U.S. government chooses to ignore th... more

M. Lall & I. A. Lodhi, Institute S. Asian Studies

Response: The current U.S. strategic priorities in South Asia lie with the waging of the war on terror. The logic of this war means that the U.S. needs a foothold in the Afghani-Pakistani border region, and needs most of all to control the Pakistani leadership, which both allows them to maintain this foothold as well as supports American strategic policy.

The first priority of the U.S. is to take out al... more

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