Photo courtesy of economist.com
DEVELOPMENTS
After six years of serving as both General and President of Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf stepped down as army chief on November 28th. He has allowed both of his political opponents to return from exile. In addition to pledging that "free and fair" elections will take place in January 2008, Musharraf has vowed to lift Pakistan's state of emergency by December 16th. Under mounting pressure from domestic and international critics, President Musharraf seems to be moving Pakistan towards democracy. Why, then, are some U.S. officials demanding regime change in Pakistan while others are supporting Musharraf's "measured transition" to democracy?
BACKGROUND
United States-Pakistan relations have been spotty since the Cold War. In the mid-1950s the U.S., disturbed by the increased Soviet presence in the Middle East and South Asia, signed a mutual defense agreement with Pakistan. As a result, the newly created Muslim country received millions in military aid to secure its borders. But in the 1960s, while Pakistan was in the middle of a war with India, the U.S. suspended military aid to Pakistan. Aid resumed a few years later but was paused again in 1979, when the U.S. suspected (correctly) that Pakistan was developing nuclear weapons.
As the Soviet threat loomed large in Southern Asia, the Reagan administration revisited aid to Pakistan, giving it $3.2B to support neighboring Afghanistan against Soviet expansionism. In the mid-1990s, however, Congressional concerns about Pakistan's nuclear weapons program prompted new legislation which, once again, halted economic and military aid to its irregular ally.
