Zardari - The Taliban Are Winning

By Cernig

Asif Ali Zardari, Paistan's "Mr Ten per cent" political leader who now aspires to be president, is taking a leaf out of Musharraf's playbook and playing the West for all it is worth.

"It is an insurgency", he said, "and an ideological war. It is our country and we will defend it.The world is losing the war. I think at the moment they (the Taleban) definitely have the upper hand. The issue, which is not just a bad case scenario as far as Pakistan is concerned or as Afghanistan is concerned but it is going to be spreading further. The whole world is going to be affected by it."

That the Taliban are winning might even be true but Zardari is simply trying to set himself up as Musharraf's successor by promising much the same things Mushie did - a strongman ally, an ideological war and a hefty dose of fearmongering. He's got even less chance of doing something about it than Mushie did, all things considered, and given his corrupt past likely even less interest in doing so. But currently he's the only one who wants the job of being Pakistani president.

(Mushie, by contrast, is looking to get even richer with a series of lecture tours which could make him as wealthy as a Clinton. Being a former dictator is nice work if you can survive to get it.)

Comments

[ae]

he's not prime minister. gilani is.

agreed that he's using musharraf tactic.

[Steve Hynd]

You're right, ae. I keep forgetting because Zardari is the de facto PM. I'll fix it.

Regards, C

[ae]

just to put zardari's comment in context.

"French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who rushed to Afghanistan after the French attack, warned Thursday that "terrorism is winning.""

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/24/taliban-turns-lethal-101_n_120977.html

Pakistan is f*cked.

[empty]

My totally unscientific reading is that Zardari is looking to last out a half year or maybe a year in which he can extract as much loot as possible. Back in June there was a rather depressing story about the ending of zero capital gains tax in Pakistan which got shelved after some well heeled industrialists met with "the leadership" of the PPP. I am afraid ae is right.