Archives

ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (AFP) - US President George W Bush, who at the time of his election campaign could not name the president of Pakistan, now has Pervez Musharraf as a major partner in the international fight against terrorism and the US-led campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

During an interview when he was the Republican presidential candidate, Bush failed to answer several general knowledge questions, of which one was to name the head of Pakistan.

A year after his election, Bush and Musharraf are the best of friends, telephoning each other regularly, meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York and planning a further meeting in the near future.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Islamabad this week for his second visit since taking office, issued an invitation from Bush for Musharraf to make an official visit to the United States soon.

But the face of friendship cannot hide several thorns in the relationship, such as the innumerable effigies of Bush and American flags burned in Pakistan during protests against Musharraf's assistance for the United States in the campaign against Afghanistan.

In the same way, the US military presence in Pakistan, and the off-handedness shown at times by US soldiers who regard themselves as in a conquered country, irritated Pakistan military authorities anxious to avoid provoking a Muslim population close to Afghanistan.

Because, even if street protests were easily put down by security forces, many Pakistanis felt closer to their Afghan Muslim neighbours than the unfortunately dubbed "crusade" carried out by Washington.

The response by Islamic extremists was an immediate call to answer the crusade with a "jihad" or holy war against the American infidels.

Some 98 percent of Muslims in this Islamic republic are not particularly known as "Americanophiles" but they know that their exports, business and overall economy depend largely on friendship with Western powers.

For General Musharraf, who came to power in a military coup little more than a year before Bush was elected, realism took over when he answered a later night telephone call from Bush shortly after the September 11 attacks and was asked "friend or foe?"

Islamabad immediately agreed to cooperate with the United States, in the hope that it would reap rewards, particularly material benefits.

Pakistan remembers that during the last years of the Afghan war against the invading Soviet army, it was the third recipient of US assistance behind Israel and Egypt.

But after the conflict, when the Soviet forces withdrew in 1989, Washington no longer needed Pakistan to subsidise the Afghan fighters, the aid was cut and Pakistan's economic troubles began.

"If America leaves the area this time, just as they had left 12 years ago, it is not only Afghanistan which will sink in anarchy, but Pakistan also," a senior official in the foreign ministry said.

It should be hoped then that Bush will continue to remember the name of the president. 

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager