Musharraf regime collapsing: US expert

The US is paying lip service to Prevez Musharraf regime that is collapsing before its eyes, a top US expert has said and warned that a nuclear-armed and 8220;terrorism-capable Pakistan will become everyone8217;s biggest foreign policy problem8221;. Criticising Musharraf for not acting swiftly and ruthlessly to set Pakistan8217;s politics on course, Stephen Cohen of the Brookings Institution, a known South Asia expert, said he does deserve criticism for the 8220;deterioration8221; of Pakistani civil society and his 8220;treatment of the press has been retrograde8221;.

8220;Musharraf is widely viewed as a military strongman who should be pressed to hold free and fair elections this year. Both the characterisation of him and the policy recommendation are misguided,8221; Cohen said in an op-ed piece titled The Pakistan Time Bomb in The Washington Post. 8220;Musharraf8217;s problem is that he has failed to act swiftly and ruthlessly to set Pakistan8217;s politics on a proper course, and he knows that given the complexity of the internal problems, the holding of free and fair elections might not check Pakistan8217;s drift toward extremism.8221;