WASHINGTON — Cultivating a crucial Muslim ally, President Bush on Saturday promised Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that he would give priority in his second term to working to achieve a Palestinian state.
Bush defended the visiting Musharraf, who had been faulted by some for uneven cooperation in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism, as a "courageous leader" who had risked assassination for his crackdown on the Al Qaeda terrorist network.
A senior administration official, meanwhile, downplayed U.S. frustration over the South Asian nation's refusal to allow Americans to interrogate Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan about his nuclear proliferation activities.
The White House also did not publicly mention the failure of Musharraf and the U.S. to catch Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, nor did it chide the Pakistani president for his decision to keep his post as army chief, a move widely criticized as undermining democracy in Pakistan.
Bush, sitting beside Musharraf in the Oval Office after their 55-minute meeting, emphasized his commitment to help foster the creation of a Palestinian state that would live in peace with Israel. Muslim leaders, as well as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, have said progress on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is essential to defusing the anger that helps fuel Islamic extremism.
Bush called for "a world effort to help the Palestinians develop a state that is truly free: one that's got an independent judiciary; one that's got a civil society; one that's got the capacity to fight off the terrorists; one that allows for dissent; one in which people can vote, and President Musharraf can play a big role in helping achieve that objective."
Critics noted that most of those criteria were not met in Pakistan.
Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, purged the Supreme Court, arbitrarily amended the constitution and has never stood for election in a contested campaign, said Husain Haqqani, a former advisor to Pakistani prime ministers who is now at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"As long as a country in the Muslim world is willing to be an American friend, lapses in freedom or democracy will not be judged very harshly by the American administration," Haqqani said. "You can have a make-believe parliament, you can have a show election ... and you can still get a passing grade, which is what President Bush seems to be giving Gen. Musharraf."
