Zardari will meet Obama buoyed by sea-change in Pakistan

Zardari will meet Obama buoyed by sea-change in Pakistan

* Analysts agree Zardari will return from Washington with backing for his govt

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis do not often see their country the same way as American presidents, but the fear spread by Taliban fighters turning up a few hours drive from Islamabad has finally put them on the same page.

Politicians of every hue, the media and the public have all been seized by the urgent need to fight back. “The national mood is changing,” said a senior Pakistani official with knowledge of foreign policy and security matters.

“People got scared, which is good. Getting scared is good.”

The turnaround is occurring as President Asif Ali Zardari prepares to meet Obama and Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Washington on May 6-7 to discuss how to destroy Al Qaeda and Taliban sanctuaries on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

The Taliban currently control, are active in or hold influence over 12 percent of Pakistani territory, according to Farrukh Saleem, executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies.

These days every Pakistani newspaper and television channel’s top story is how well the army is doing in a week-old offensive against the Taliban in Buner and the need to support the military. Few people give Zardari credit, but at least a hostile media got off his back in order to support the government’s decision to send troops into a valley just 60 miles from Islamabad.

Obama made clear the support he will be offering at this week’s talks when he described Pakistan’s government as fragile and short of money, and noted that its army has begun to realise it has to fight homegrown militants instead of obsess over India.

Backing: Analysts agree Zardari will probably return from Washington with backing for his one-year-old civilian government, and US commitments to fast-track economic and military aid and speed up reimbursements for expenses incurred fighting militancy. Some $1.5 billion could arrive from the United States alone this month, according to the senior Pakistani official, giving a hard-up government some leeway to help its people when it announces an annual budget in June. Zardari is also expected to agree confidence-building measures with Afghanistan to reduce mistrust between the nations.reuters