For now, what's best for Musharraf is keeping his administration in the good graces of the Bush administration.
The situation is fluid, but at this moment, our interests compliment each other. We have the carrots and the sticks to keep it that way for quite a while.
He's an ally in that limited way, and its a workable situation for the time being. I don't particularly care what his personal motivations are as long as he delivers.
The situation is fluid, but at this moment, our interests compliment each other. We have the carrots and the sticks to keep it that way for quite a while.
I think you mean "our interests complement each other" - in which case you are not correct. Our interests are two-fold - a) To prevent attacks on American soil as well our and allied interests abroad and b) To degrade and destroy the global Islamofascist terror infrastructure and discourage the formation of new terrorists.
Of these Musharraf only concurs with (a) in order to keep himself in our good graces. But Muharraf wants the threat of (a) to be ever-present so that his utility to us never diminishes. To that end he will do everything to discourage and deter our efforts to degrade the terror infrastructure that is now headquartered in Pakistan. It serves him well that we accept him handing over an Abdul bin terrorist once in a few weeks. He knows fully well that as long as the Pakistani madrassas, their wealthy sheikh patrons, friendly ISI members and an overall climate of jihad thrives in Pakistan, Abdul bin Terrorist will soon be replaced by Khalid bin Terroris whom he can use down the line?
Has anyone stopped to question why is it that every time an Al Qaeda #3 man is arrested in Pakistan, he gets replaced by another #3 who is arrested a few months later?
Has anyone stopped to think about why not one person who enabled these AQ leaders to thrive in Pakistan has been brought to books?
If we keep playing this "Musharraf is our ally for now" game, the Pakistanis will keep milking us dry till the cows come home (sorry for the bad pun.) They have an endless supply of Al Qaeda #3s and #4s to keep us occupied. He's an ally in that limited way, and its a workable situation for the time being. I don't particularly care what his personal motivations are as long as he delivers.