US Role in Pakistan (Opinion)

The brutal and bloody assassination of Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and former prime minister, continues to reverberate. In part, this is because she was a woman.

For all the changes in our time in attitudes regarding gender, for most people the violent death of a woman is more disturbing than that of a man. She was also an extremely charismatic personality, a natural magnet for media attention, which she courted continually.

The assassin who shot at her also detonated a suicide bomb, killing and wounding a number of other people on the scene. In effect, her death took place quite literally in the midst of the wider ongoing political violence of Pakistan. Elements of al-Qaida as well as the Pakistan government have been blamed for the killing, in a debate that will certainly continue and may well grow over time.

The strategic context of her murder encourages anxiety. Pakistan since 9/11 has been a principal front line in the ongoing struggle against al-Qaida, and therefore a priority in United States foreign policy. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the very rough terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Islamic radicalism is influential in Pakistan, and perhaps growing stronger.

The nation also possesses nuclear weapons, vastly raising the stakes of a possible radical takeover of the national government.

Violence to a striking degree has been an integral component of political life in Pakistan over the past several decades. In recent years, suicide bombers have tried to kill the nation's president, prime minister and interior minister. At a rally in Karachi on Oct. 18, organized to welcome Mrs. Bhutto home from political exile, double suicide blasts killed 140 people.

Political violence also has been a special curse following the Bhutto family. Her father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was ousted by the military and then hanged in the 1970s. Her two brothers were also murdered, one by poison.

Intense controversy has also accompanied the Bhutto clan's political evolution. Benazir Bhutto's two separate terms as prime minister were marked by strong complaints, especially from military circles, that the government was guilty of corruption, leading to her removal from power.

Her husband Asif Ali Zardari was a primary target of such allegations and spent eight years in prison. Now he and their 19-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari will become the new leaders of the PPP, confirming the dynastic nature of this political family.

Even after being ousted from power by the military, exiled and discredited in the eyes of many, Benazir Bhutto remained absolutely convinced that she was destined to return to lead her people to a better future. She vehemently denied the allegations of corruption.

Indeed, personally she seemed defined by focus on her political mission rather than any personal greed. Wealth was assumed, not pursued, as she worked away to return to government power, and fulfill her own sense of destiny. The Bush administration viewed her as representing a promising democratic alternative.

The political problems and blunders of Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf made Mrs. Bhutto's return to power plausible, though by no means certain. After permitting her to return home to Pakistan from exile, including a legal amnesty, he then imposed national emergency rule and placed her under short-term house arrest.

The immediate incentive for martial law was a decision by the Pakistan Supreme Court that Musharraf's re-election to the presidency was invalid because he was a serving soldier. He followed up by removing a dozen judges and appointing more accommodating successors. This in turn led to a boycott of parliament by most of the political parties, though not the PPP.

Musharraf has stated that elections scheduled for January will take place, but the assassination makes this more uncertain.

Mrs. Bhutto was allowed to return to Pakistan as a result of direct pressure on Musharraf by Washington. In a similar manner, another opposition leader and former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has remained in exile in Saudi Arabia in part because the Bush administration has wanted to keep him out of Pakistan politics.

There are more encouraging elements in the broader strategic picture. The Pakistan government cooperates closely with the U.S. in command and control of nuclear weapons, which are regarded as secure for now.

There are also pro-democracy elements within the Pakistan army, which directly reflects British tradition as well as training. As a result, since the Eisenhower administration the U.S. has been willing to work cooperatively with that military, even while encouraging progress toward democracy.

By Arthur I. Cyr
Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen distinguished professor at Carthage College and author of ``After the Cold War'' (Palgrave/Macmillan and NYU Press). He can be reached at acyr@carthage.edu.

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Read the article about Benazir Bhutto’s assassination:
http://www.seedebate.org/node/454

Search with keyword Pakistan, Bhutto or Musharraf to find additional articles about Pakistan.

The United States supported Bhutto because she was supposed to bring democracy back to Pakistan. Based on what the article says about her family, do you think she would have been unsuccessful?

What do you think that US Foreign policy toward Pakistan should be - given the instability, rising terrorist threat, and nuclear capabilities?

It is obvious from the article that the United States is very involved in Pakistan’s politics. What kinds of problems might arise when another country uses its considerable strength to back a particular political candidate?

If the United States uses its influence to help a candidate get elected, is that still democracy?

Why is it so important to the United States that other countries are democracies?
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