Why Bhutto’s death matters here
By Patrick Kelley
Originally published 09:46 a.m., December 29, 2007
Updated 09:46 a.m., December 29, 2007
Americans — weary of war and a world seemingly filled with violence — may be tempted to write off this week’s assassination of Benazir Bhutto as just one more spasm of meaningless violence somewhere far away. The news was sad, of course. Bhutto has many admirers in this country. But what difference will the death of one Pakistani politician make to the everyday lives of Americans?
However, the assassination was not all that far away. Pakistan may be half a world removed from the United States, but it’s also right next door to a war that is important to this country — the continuing battle against the Taliban and the remnants of al-Qaida in Afghanistan. It was only with Pakistan’s cooperation that the United States and its allies were able to mount an effective attack on Afghanistan. It is only with Pakistani cooperation that the outside world has managed to support the shaky new government in Karachi.
Pakistan, as it is today, is a worrisome ally at best. Its long border with Afghanistan has proven to be a sieve. Taliban and al-Qaida fighters cross back and forth with little trouble, using Pakistan as a hideout and rest area. They have many supporters in Pakistan, which has its own homegrown radical Islamists. Pervez Musharraf and his government alternately appease and bully the Pakistani radicals.
Musharraf himself has been the target of several assassination attempts. The closest thing to a stable center of power in the nation is the army.
By any reasonable standards, Pakistan is a sick nation, teetering on the brink of chaos and held together only by armed force.
But for all its troubles, Pakistan has something that makes the future of its government important to nations and people around the world: nuclear weapons. If the radicals manage to gain control of the government, those weapons would be theirs.
Bhutto, with her wide appeal to voters and her international support, offered a chance for Pakistan to turn away from increasing violence and division and firmly establish a democratic government. That will not happen now, at least under a Bhutto government.
And that makes Afghanistan and other nations in the region that much more dangerous for U.S. troops and their allies.
Benazir Bhutto’s assassination shook the New York Stock Exchange and started a fevered media reassessment of the presidential candidates of both parties.
Bhutto mattered. Pakistan matters.