MADRAS, India — One of America's playing fields has been Pakistan, and since 9/11 this small Islamic nation has been truly under the grip of Washington. U.S. President George W. Bush roped in Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to counter terror in adjoining Afghanistan and, in return, doled out aid and arms. But now Musharraf's use appears to be on the wane. Afghanistan is under a U.S.-friendly regime headed by Hamid Karzai as American soldiers remain in Iraq long after the execution of Saddam Hussein.
In Pakistan, it now looks like time to pack off Musharraf and perhaps bring in the country's one-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Over the years, Washington has conspired and succeeded in deporting regimes it no longer considered necessary or useful. There are many examples of this across the world.
In the 1950s, Muhammed Musaddiq was removed and Reza Shah Pahlavi was installed on Iran's throne. He continued to rule for many years till the advocates of the Islamic Revolution took over. However, American efforts to change regimes by force have been bloody and disastrous, as we have seen in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington appears to have got a little myopic as far as Islamabad is concerned.