WASHINGTON, Dec 25, (RTRS): A political crisis in Pakistan may threaten not only the future of President Asif Ali Zardari but also keep pressure on an already tense relationship with the United States as it seeks to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan.
A scandal over a murky memo that warned the Pentagon of a possible military coup in Pakistan has highlighted historic tensions between the weak civilian government in Islamabad and the powerful military, whose help Washington needs to battle militants fueling violence in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court began hearings this week into who was behind the memo, keeping the spotlight on a controversy that has added even more strain to US-Pakistan relations. The affair also threatens to undermine Pakistan’s wobbly democracy as the United States seeks to mend those ties.
“The memo-gate issue is likely to have negative repercussions on the US-Pakistan relationship,” said Lisa Curtis, a former CIA analyst and State Department official now with the Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington.
“Many in Washington policy circles believe that forces that wish to undermine democracy in Pakistan are behind the affair.”
Zardari returned to Pakistan on Monday from medical treatment in Dubai to face questions over the memo that a Pakistani-American businessman delivered to the top US military officer earlier this year pleading for US help in staving off a military coup.
The businessman pinned the origins of the memo on Pakistan’s former ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani.
Haqqani, who resigned at the height of the affair, denies the allegations. Zardari’s position may protect him if the probe were to prove links to the memo but the scandal could still threaten to force him out of office.
The controversy comes at a particularly tense time as US investigators prepare to unveil a probe into an incident in late November in which NATO aircraft killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers along the border with Afghanistan.
The Obama administration’s response to “memo-gate” has been muted, perhaps in part reflecting resignation among US officials to troubled ties with an uneasy ally for now.