Monday, 02.25.08
A Pakistani vote: Insecurity wins
Arif Ali/AFP Getty Images
A new era in Pakistan
21 February 2008
Joshua Hammer analyzed how the elections would affect the "war on terror."
The two victorious parties ruled Pakistan between the late 1980s and the late 1990s -- a disastrous period for Pakistan, with corruption out of control and sectarian violence endemic in Karachi. The situation was so bad that when Musharraf staged his coup, the country's civil-society intellectuals greeted it with relief. The two parties are still feudal, and there is little to indicate they will govern better than they did a decade ago. In Pakistan, neither military nor democratic rule has worked.
But there seems to be no other way forward. I expect a weakening of security with an unwieldy coalition, and a vacuum filled by extremists. At least the Islamic parties fared badly.
A missed opportunity?Joshua Kurlantzick prays that the US will not lose a chance to support Pakistan's media and independent judiciary -- even at the expense of the victors in the election. |
We voted!Mohsin Hamid allowed himself a moment of "reckless joy" over his country's reasonably fair election. |
The view from IslamabadNajum Mushtaq analyzes the results, and points out that they put lie to the notion that Musharraf's opposition consists entirely of Islamist cranks. |
Back to the drawing boardNicholas Schmidle says the elections proved everyone, including him, wrong about Pakistani politics and society. |
