Quote:
Originally posted by sycamore
Musharraf needs to show the world that the military government in Pakistan is fair and just. ... But could Pakistan really refuse? What would have happened if Pakistan declined? Would they have been enemies of the state?
|
Pakistan could easily have refused. But they have been under economic pressure since the nuclear bomb fiasco (India and Pakistan). We don't know what carrot was offered to Pakistan other than economic and military aid. Does it restore relations with the US? Maybe. But I suspect something more telling was confronting the Pakistani leadership. Bush's statement that this was war, combined with previous treaty obligations between Pakistan and the US made it necessary for Pakistan to make a decision. It was probably stated, straight out, that they no longer had the option of the usual ternary answer. The US made it clear that "maybe" or "conditional" was "No" with all the adverse conditions associated with "No".
The fact that Pakistan said "yes" (and I hope the US State Dept did not misunderstand the conditions) and that Pakistan will send a high level delegation to Afghanstan implies that the Bush administration has finally taken a leadership position.
We (the public) also don't know the mental state of Muslim world leadership. They are being coy. I suspect if he could do so, the President of Iran would have offered to the US some territorial access (if you understand relations between Iran and Afghanistan). But Muslim world leadership is also playing it low key - which is why we don't know their mindset. The Pakistani leadership, though, was in a position of "Shit or get off the pot". I think we will know better on Monday what they did.