WASHINGTON: The US State Department has once again made it clear that the Obama administration backs the Zardari government in the conflict between the civil and military establishments and that it is trying to hold direct talks with the Taliban without involving Islamabad.
A day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made these points in a news briefing at her office, the department’s spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters that the US would continue to support the current democratic set-up in Pakistan.
Ms Nuland noted that Secretary Clinton had made “very, very clearly… our hopes for our relationship with Pakistan as well as our views in support of democratic governance and good dialogue inside Pakistan”.
Asked if US special envoy Marc Grossman, who leaves Washington next week for talks in Afghanistan and Qatar about reconciliation with the Taliban, would also visit Islamabad, she said: “He is not travelling to Pakistan on this particular trip.”
On Thursday, Secretary Clinton said the US was standing “strongly in favour of a democratically-elected civilian government” and urged both civilian and military authorities to resolve these internal issues “in a just and transparent manner that upholds the Pakistan laws and constitution”.
“The US has a deep interest in seeing civilian democracy succeed in Pakistan. A robust and vibrant democracy can help prevent extremists from gaining ground and destabilising the state,” said Lisa Curtis, a Pakistan expert at Washington’s Heritage Foundation.
“If the Zardari government is forced to leave office before its term expires, this will be a setback to democracy in Pakistan and demonstrate the army still wields tremendous power. While the Zardari government is far from perfect, it is an elected government, and its premature dismissal will send a negative signal that civilian rule has not fully taken root in Pakistan,” she warned.
The official Voice of America radio also noted that in this civil-military conflict, the Obama administration was backing the civilian government.
CNN noted that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s scheduled meeting with his top military commanders on Saturday “provides Mr Gilani with an opportunity to dial back tensions with his defence chiefs”.
The tensions, which came to surface during the so-called memogate scandal, escalated after the PM fired Defence Secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi for alleged “gross misconduct and illegal action”.
Muhammed Akram Shaheedi, the prime minister’s spokesman, told CNN that all service chiefs would attend the meeting, including the chief of the army, as well as the ministers of interior, defence and information.
The Washington Post noted that President Asif Ali Zardari’s return to Pakistan in less than 24 hours after he had arrived in Dubai had helped quash rumours of a possible military coup.
“It is widely accepted that the army, led by Gen Ashfaq Kayani, has no appetite for a coup. Nor does the public or Pakistan’s vibrant media, although the government is unpopular with both,” the newspaper noted. “The military, in fact, has strived to emphasise its preference for a solution sanctioned by the Supreme Court, an institution that some analysts say is on a warpath against the government.”
The New York Times, however, reported that some opposition politicians and analysts in Pakistan were accusing the government of trying to create the current acrimony as a strategy. “The government has nothing to show to the people and its performance is all marred with corruption and mismanagement,” said former senator Enver Baig.
Other US media outlets noted that although Mr Zardari remained widely unpopular and was still seen as “a very corrupt” ruler, neither the military nor the Supreme Court was in a position to force him out. The military, the reports claimed, was “in a position of political isolation”, which was forcing it to show “uncharacteristic restraint”.
“For all the headlines about the prospect of another coup, an army takeover looks unlikely any time soon,” noted another report.