Middle East & North Africa
Reports
[Even while it does not run the country directly, the army is understood to be Pakistan’s most powerful institution.] Since 2008, the military has been content to run things behind the scenes and that is continuing through the country’s current set of crises.
[In Pakistan, where the military remains supremely powerful and enjoys significant support, Musharraf is a divisive figure.] In the end he left Pakistanis with a deep distaste for direct military rule — so that even though the military wields much power behind the scenes now, it does not want to be in power directly again.
Imran Khan came to power touting that he was on the same page as the military. And he has ended on a stunning anti-establishment note in a way that no Pakistani politician has done before. [Still, it would be unfair to blame Mr. Musharraf for all of Pakistan’s problems, or even for the military’s continued hold on power. Those, are rooted in pathologies that go back to the country’s split with India in 1947.] It traces back to two pillars — reliance on Islam and opposition to India — that all of the country’s leaders have tried to follow. Musharraf wasn’t responsible for that — he was a product of it.
[Pakistan was used as transit for NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan. And Musharraf tolerated attacks launched by U.S. forces against suspected militants in Pakistan's rugged border areas. That didn't stop him from playing what some in Washington called a double game,] cooperating with the U.S. on counter terrorism, while allowing the Taliban to have sanctuary in Pakistan. [Pakistan led by Musharraf essentially hedged its bets – looking to a future where the U.S. would depart the region. The Taliban swept to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 and that was partly a result of Musharraf's policies.] The fact that the Taliban had sanctuary in Pakistan... Musharraf was the one who began that policy.