Post Bhutto Pakistan
There are a lot of sharp comments on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. I think Wretchard at Belmont Club covers the democratic implications pretty clearly and Andrew McCarthy nails the inability of the West to actually understand what Pakistan is and how it operates.
al Qaeda has claimed credit and there, perhaps, is the critical point for the West if we have the wit to understand it.
Bhutto came from a very political family - her father was a Pakistani Prime Minister before he was hung on a set of rather doubtful charges - with a significant core of support in Pakistan’s middle class. She may very well have been personally corrupt but her popularity was little diminished.
Now, for the next few days there will be turmoil in Pakistan as Bhutto’s supporters vent their anger. However, with a bit of skill, that anger and the anger of millions of Pakistanis who did not support Bhutto but who do support reform and some form of democracy can be directed at the people who claimed to have killed her.
The Pakistanis need look no further than the Tribal areas on the Afghanistan border and I have little doubt that if Musharraf is willing to actually use his own army and invite air support and tactical support from the US and the NATO forces in Afghanistan, huge progress could be made on the Northwestern Frontier.
Until now Musharraf’s hand has been stayed by the recognition that a full on attack on the Taliban and al Qaeda elements in the tribal areas would enjoy limited support in the rest of Pakistan. The death of Mrs. Bhutto and the anger it has provoked gives Musharraf and his Western allies the casus belli to clean house.
“I am what the terrorists most fear,” she tells me, “a female political leader fighting to bring modernity to Pakistan. Now they’re trying to kill me.” Benazir Bhutto, Parade Magazine
Written by jay on December 28th, 2007 with
1 comment.
Read more articles on International and Terror and US Politics.
- [+] Digg: Feature this article
- [+] Del.icio.us: Bookmark this article
- [+] Furl: Bookmark this article
#1. December 29th, 2007, at 12:41 AM.
I enjoy reading your site. I think the possibility is slim that the anger of Pakistanis could be channelled against those who claim to have killed her. I believe we should heed the pundits who tell us that there is much about Pakistan we do not understand. It would be nice to hear more from the large number of Pakistanis who live in Canada and other parts of the west what they would hope to be the next step. They at least have had their political views somewhat tempered by some social stability.
Also, is it ‘hung’ or ‘hanged’? I ask only to know for sure since I no longer know what is accepted English grammar anymore.
Pedro