Musharraf Can't Hedge His Bets Anymore

President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan can't play the middle between the United States and radical fundamentalists in his country much longer.

Last week, his police attacked the Red Mosque in downtown Islamabad. The Mosque was led by a cleric named Maulana Abdul Aziz, a pro-Taliban extremist who was fomenting rebellion in Pakistan. Amongst other things, students at the mosque's school were going around town trying to enforce a strict fundamentalist Islamic code on the otherwise moderate city of Islamabad. Musharraf had to do something.

Musharraf has been afraid to face down the extremists. It may be out of his control. He may not be able to do so. The U.S. has given billions of dollars in aid to Pakistan in the last several years (according to the Congressional Research Service) in order to help us fight the Taliban and to protect his regime against Islamic extremism. There have been suspicions that Musharraf was just taking the money without making legitimate efforts to help us bring down the Taliban, including Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda elements, that slipped over the border from Afghanistan.

It seems that Musharraf won't be able to play coy much longer. His government has done just enough to attack the extremists with U.S. help that he has become the target of their wrath.

After the attack on the Red Mosque, Abdul Aziz was arrested while trying to slip out of the mosque in a burqa. (Okay, it's a lot easier, apparently, for Imams to "talk the talk" than to "walk the walk.") Abdul Aziz's brother, who tried to hold the fort, so to speak, was killed inside the mosque. Since then, Musharraf has had the mosque painted yellow, it's black banners removed, and its school buildings (heavily damaged by the intense fighting) torn down. Then the government appointed a moderate to lead Friday prayers today. But protestors wouldn't let the new Imam deliver his sermon, and demands were made for the return of Abdul Aziz. Some began to repaint the mosque in red, and to hang the black banners up again. Police moved in, and 11 people, including some of the police, were killed by a bomb.

The Washington Post reports:

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In a speech at the mosque's main entrance, Liaqat Baloch, deputy leader of a coalition of hard-line religious parties, condemned Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as a "killer" and declared there would be an Islamic revolution in Pakistan, the Associated Press reported.

"Maulana Abdul Aziz is still the prayer leader of the mosque," Baloch said, according to the wire service. "Musharraf is a killer of the constitution. He's a killer of male and female students. The entire world will see him hang."

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The situation is obviously becoming quite serious, and I don't see how Musharraf can any longer avoid fully cooperating with the U.S. effort to bring the Taliban and Al Qaeda to justice. (That is if we can still assume the Bush administration really wants that to happen, which has also been doubtful I must admit.)