Show Americas America's bad deal with Ahmed Rashid Special to The Washington Post Pakistan is on the brink of disaster and the Bush administration is continuing to back the man who dragged it there As President Pervez fights off the most serious challenge to his year eight-year dictatorship the United States is supporting him to the hilt The message to the Pakistani public is clear To the Bush White House the war on terrorism tops everything and that includes democracy The crisis began on March 9 when suspended Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry the chief justice of the supreme court who bravely threatened plans to consolidate his power That triggered street protests demanding resignation which were met by a led government-led crackdown on lawyers the opposition and the media Thousands of lawyers la nationwide looking like penguins in their courtroom black suits and white shirts braved police batons and the heat to lead marches They were joined by women's groups journalists and the opposition For the first time in two decades Pakistan's civil society has taken to the streets The roots of the crisis g go goback o back to the blind bargain Washington made after 9 11 with the regime that had heretofore been the main patron ignoring despotism in return for his promises to crack down on al and cut loose the Today despite 10 billion in US U.S. aid to Pakistan since 2001 I that bargain lies in tatters the is resurgent in Afghanistan and al- al senior leadership has set up another haven inside Pakistan's chaotic border regions M The 4 The problem is exacerbated by a dramatic off drop-off in US U.S. expertise on Pakistan Retired American officials say that for the first time in US U.S. history nobody with serious Pakistan experience is working in inthe inthe inthe the South Asia bureau of the State Department on States State's policy planning staff on the National Security Council staff or even in Vice President Cheney's office Anne W. W Patterson the new US U.S. ambassador to Islamabad is an expert on Latin American drugs and thugs Richard A. A Boucher the assistant secretary of state for So South th and Central Asian affairs is a former fonner department spokesman who served three tours in Hong Kong and China but never was posted in South Asia They know nothing of Pakistan a former senior US U.S. diplomat said Current and past US U.S. officials tell me that Pakistan policy is essentially being run from Cheney's office The vice president they say is close to and refuses to brook any US U.S. criticism of him This all fits in recent months Im I'm told Pakistani opposition politicians visiting Washington have been ushered in to meet Cheney's Chency's aides rather than taken to the State Department No one at Foggy Bottom seems willing willingto to question Cheney's decisions Boucher for forone forone forone one has largely limited his remarks on the crisis to expressions of support for Current and retired US U.S. diplomats tell me that throughout the previous year Boucher refused to let the State Department even consider alternative policies if vere Were threatened with being ousted even though 2007 is an election year in Pakistan Last winter Boucher reportedly limited the scope of a US U.S. government seminar on Pakistan for fear that it might send a signal that US U.S. support for f was declining Likewise Im I'm told he has refused to meet with leading opposition figures such as former prime ministers and Nawaz Nawa z Sharif whom has exiled Boucher says he has met with people across the full political spectrum of Pakistan during his nine visits there from government parties to Islamic radicals to Chaudhry's lawyer Meanwhile Boucher's boss Secretary of State Rice demands democracy and media freedom in Venezuela but apparently deems such niceties irrelevant to Pakistan With Cheney in charge and Rice in eclipse rumblings of alarm at atthe atthe atthe the Defense Department and the CIA can be heard While neither agen agency y is usually directly concerned with decision- decision making on Pakistan both boast officers with far greater expertise than the White House and State Department crew These officers many of whom have served in Islamabad or Kabul understand the double double game that has played helping the United States go after al Q I-Q ida while letting his intelligence services h heln ln the claw their way back in Afghanistan The Pentagon and theCIA the theCIA CIA have been privately expressing concern about the lack of an alternative to blind support Ironically both departments have JJ JI historically supported military rulers in Pakistan They seem to have learned their lesson Its It's a pity that those calling the shots have not What is at stake Quite simply the danger of a civil war or the country unraveling even more dramatically than it did when it lost Bangladesh in 1971 The establishment that has sustained four military regimes is deeply divided The judiciary and the legal system are out in inthe inthe the streets demanding an end to military rule They are backed by the country's gleeful federal bureaucracy which resented being shunted aside by and joined by civil society organizations and opposition parties The protesters' protesters ranks have also been swelled by poor people protesting i increases creases in the price of food and other necessities necessities necessities' and shortages of electricity during an already blistering summer These dissenters have been joined by an increasingly influential media During military regimes the media always grow in stature as they act as the conscience of the people and give voice to political opposition For Forthe Forthe Forthe the first time the public can watch demonstrations live on private TV satellite-TV channel something channels something that has bewildered th the j annys anny's t Orwellian thought-control thought department |