Ahmed Rashid's opinion piece in today's Washington Post explains the dilemma for Washington. We have Nawaz Sharif who is totally opposed to anything and everything Washington, and we have Asif Zardari, who is moving cautiously and deliberately. Washington has to move decisively to help Mr. Zardari, who is open to working with the Western countries and he is not opposed to the military action in FATA to eliminate the Taliban either. Nawaz Sharif is opposed to the military action against the religious militants and he has been slowly, but methodically undermining Zardari's efforts to work collaboratively with others.
This is a great opportunity for Washington to help Zardari in getting elected a secular, progressive and pro-Washington person as the new president of Pakistan. It is also important to remember that the last person Nawaz Sharif appointed as the president, Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was no friend of Washington. He was more in sync with religious right and Washington has to make sure that we don't get anyone like Mr. Tarar again.
Even if the presidency is stripped of all the powers in Pakistan, the president can still play a tremendously important role in the country in more ways than one. So, we have to be careful, we have to be firm and we have to help the progressive parties in Pakistan become prominent and bring the progressives in the leadership role. This should be the starting point for Washington to re-establish meaningful and productive relationship with Islamabad.
Bilal Qureshi
Washington, DC