Pakistan Regained
Published in Foreign Affairs Magazine By Scherzando Karasu When in 2008 the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) swept to power in the Pakistani general elections, it restored one of the world’s most populous nations to democracy and civilian rule, fulfilling the legacy of its late party leader, Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in the run-up to elections. Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, went on to win the presidency with the promise of change for a country in distress. Faced with the insurgency, economic failure, and a prolonged regional conflict, President Zardari has made Bhutto’s politics of reconciliation his own, thus steering Pakistan out of an enveloping crisis. “The democratic government on assuming power inherited a huge portfolio of challenges that confronted the nation,” President Zardari explains. “Pakistan was facing both a political economic and a social crisis and both had to be addressed.”Pakistan is paying a heavy price for its border with Afghanistan. Do...