Pakistan and Musharraf

In a recent post on Exporting Democracy the United State's strategic interest in Pakistan is interestingly demonstrated. While these interests are mainly about security, they extend into economic ties as well. According to the author of the post, "The U.S has a strategic interest in having a friendly government in Pakistan, as it shares a border with Afghanistan and has become the new front line for the war on terror. Sadly, where strategic interests are involved, promoting democracy and respecting sovereignty take a back seat. The government has played to the population’s anti-U.S sentiments by officially denouncing America’s slaughter of the people of Afghanistan, while secretly launching a military offensive against some of its own citizens in the Taliban sympathetic Northwest Frontier of Pakistan, because of U.S demands. These clashes were the result of mounting U.S pressure on Musharraf to deliver on their investment in diplomatic and monetary support. As a result, thousands of Pakistani citizens living in the tribal belt and at least 2000 Pakistani soldiers, by some unofficial estimates, lost their lives while fighting each other in order to satiate U.S demands."

However, as a result of these policies, the indepedence and sanctity of Pakistani institutions is being undermined. In the future, it will be very interesting to see how this policy develops.