US & hamid gul comment on musharraf exit

Although the Pakistani military has indicated it will report to the civilian authorities, it already appears to have considerable autonomy in responding to insurgent threats. Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, spokeswoman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, said the U.S. military deals directly with the Pakistan military and that company-sized groups of American troops talk directly with Pakistani companies across the border. “We don’t anticipate anything changing,” she said of Musharraf’s exit. (AP)

US faces up to life without Musharraf
Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times

Retired general Hamid Gul, a security analyst and former director general of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), told Asia Times Online:

Musharraf had lost his utility as a useful asset for the ‘war on terror.’ The Americans had been putting pressure on Islamabad since February for him to get its act together against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, always told Washington that the government could not move forward independently because of Musharraf. Hence, Musharraf was politely told by Washington through various channels to gracefully resign, but he remained defiant and ultimately Washington pulled its support of him and the ruling coalition moved for his impeachment, which forced him to resign. The army will play the same role it played from 1996 to 1998. The American role has always been paramount in Pakistan’s politics. The late General Zia ul-Haq was defiant of Washington’s interests and he faced an accidental death in a mysterious plane accident in 1988. Had Musharraf tried to exercise his constitutional powers to dissolve the assemblies, he would also have been obstructing American interests in the region and would have faced a Zia-like fate. Now the Americans will have to use the two remaining national assets for their interests – the political parties and the army chief Kiani. Washington abhors Nawaz Sharif, so they will distance themselves from him and focus on Asif Zardari the widower of Benazir Bhutto and head of the PPP. Zardari, because of corruption cases that have been leveled against him can be easily manipulated and therefore he will act obediently on their advice. I suspect that Kiani is already part of their game.