The Bush administration is scrambling to engage with Pakistan’s new rulers as power flows from its strong ally, President Pervez Musharraf, to a powerful civilian government buoyed by anti-American sentiment. Since 2001, American officials have treasured their close relationship with Musharraf.
Two suicide attacks killed at least 31 people and injured more than 200 in Lahore on Tuesday as suspected Islamist militants escalated their campaign of mayhem in Pakistan’s largest cities. The bombs were the latest in a string of attacks against military and police targets in Lahore, the previously peaceful capital of Punjab province.
In some ways, life has changed little for Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf since the election two weeks ago. The retired general still trots out for afternoon tennis, aides say, and enjoys a game of bridge a few times a week. In the evenings he pulls on a cigar and, although he can’t admit it, nurses a glass of whisky.
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/ 18 February 2008
Travelling in private jets, helicopters and bulletproof limousines, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a staunch supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, is hard on the campaign trail for Monday’s Pakistani general election. But at his lavishly funded, tightly guarded rallies there is a striking absence: any mention of Musharraf.
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/ 18 February 2008
Travelling in private jets, helicopters and bulletproof limousines, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi, a staunch supporter of President Pervez Musharraf, is hard on the campaign trail for Monday’s Pakistani general election. But at his lavishly funded, tightly guarded rallies there is a striking absence: any mention of Musharraf.
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/ 28 January 2008
Watching him receive a verbal pistol-whipping from BBC veteran Jeremy Paxman at a London press conference earlier this month, it was hard not to feel sorry for Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the 19-year-old heir to Pakistan’s most perilous throne. Did the first-year Oxford student really think he was up to the job of heading the Pakistani opposition, even nominally?
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/ 22 October 2007
The British government has thrown its backing behind an ambitious Afghan strategy to split the Taliban by securing the defection of senior members of the militant group and large numbers of their followers. The strategy, spearheaded by the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, reflects a significant shift in British policy, and is showing initial signs of success.
An alarming surge in suicide attacks has fuelled a 30% rise in violence in Afghanistan this year, according to the United Nations. This year has seen an average of 550 violent incidents a month compared with 425 in 2006, a report by the department of safety and security said.
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/ 3 September 2007
Frenzied shuttling between London and Islamabad, not-so-secret deals and the machinations of <i>éminences grises</i> — a power shift in Pakistan is imminent. But who will come out on top? And can he or she bring stability? We look at President Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
Fighting sleaze is no easy task in a country such as Afghanistan, as anti-corruption tsar Izzatullah Wasifi can testify. The economy is awash with opium money, and bribery and backhanders are rife, as confirmed by this week’s alarming United Nations report. Then again, Wasifi is unusually well acquainted with the perilous lure of easy drug money.