ISLAMABAD: Despite the serious challenges the country was facing President Zardari has achieved significant success particularly in the war against terror.An editorial in the weekly ‘The Friday Times’ pointed that the President during his short stint in power managed to change the perceptions of the media from treating ‘the Taliban as anti-American heroes into bloodthirsty and ignorant villains.’
‘A second is in persuading the Pakistan army to go after them as the ‘enemy within’ rather then continue to obsess about India as the ‘enemy without’, the editorial said.
The third achievement was in explaining to America that the route to Kabul goes through Islamabad and to persuade it to rearm the military to put down the Taliban, inject funds into the economy, to provide jobs and education and health, help stabilize the polity for the sake of continuity and restrain India from adventuring across the border into Pakistan whatever the provocation.
‘These are no mean achievements. If some of his political decisions have been hasty ... and if some of his appointments and posting have been less than credible, his instinct for pragmatism and realism in foreign policy and survival in domestic politics has saved the day for his party and government.’
The editorial quotes President’s Spokesperson Farahnaz Ispahani who stated that President Asif Zardari has ‘proved his mettle’ in the last twelve months.
The weekly noted that the major challenges for Zardari included the opposition led by Nawaz Sharif, the pressure from USA and Islamic radicalism and urged the president to focus on the issues facing his party.
‘A second is in persuading the Pakistan army to go after them as the ‘enemy within’ rather then continue to obsess about India as the ‘enemy without’, the editorial said.
The third achievement was in explaining to America that the route to Kabul goes through Islamabad and to persuade it to rearm the military to put down the Taliban, inject funds into the economy, to provide jobs and education and health, help stabilize the polity for the sake of continuity and restrain India from adventuring across the border into Pakistan whatever the provocation.
‘These are no mean achievements. If some of his political decisions have been hasty ... and if some of his appointments and posting have been less than credible, his instinct for pragmatism and realism in foreign policy and survival in domestic politics has saved the day for his party and government.’
The editorial quotes President’s Spokesperson Farahnaz Ispahani who stated that President Asif Zardari has ‘proved his mettle’ in the last twelve months.
The weekly noted that the major challenges for Zardari included the opposition led by Nawaz Sharif, the pressure from USA and Islamic radicalism and urged the president to focus on the issues facing his party.
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