Washington, July 01: US president George W Bush "skillfully balanced carrot and stick" and promoted strategic interests by promising Pakistan 3 billion USD but not the F-16 planes Islamabad wanted so badly, a newspaper said today. The question of aid to Pakistan is nuanced, especially given America's increasingly close relationship with India and Pakistan's murky role in North Korea's ballistic missile programme, an editorial in the 'New York Post' said. "It simply make sense to aid Pakistan's disastrous economy, while, of course, not encouraging its deluded military ambitions vis-a-vis its neighbour. And to hold back the F-16s as a potential reward for good behaviour in future." However, Musharraf, for all the flaws of his regime, remains, at least for now, the best bet for stability in an "extremely dangerous" place. And a more prosperous Pakistan will be more stable, less dangerous, it said. "Put simply, America needs Musharraf to control the unruly Islamist elements in his rickety but nuclear-armed country, including in his own armed forces. Washington would also like him to crush the al Qaeda elements in the country.

"Almost as important, the US owes Musharraf for defying those Islamist elements and helping allied forces defeat the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies in Afghanistan".

US, it said, "must pay her debts to those who back her up in the war on terror. Even though it was Pakistan that sponsored Taliban in the first place and though it continues to allow the infiltration of terrorists into Kashmir."

Bush "rightly raised this last subject," along with the need for movement towards democracy, during his Camp David meeting with Musharraf tuesday, the newspaper said.

Bureau Report