Bush underwrote Musharraf's dictatorship for seven yrs: NYT

A leading American newspaper has asked Pakistan to immediately focus on challenging the Taliban and al Qaeda elements operating from its soil, following the exit of Pervez Musharraf, whose "dictatorship" President Bush "underwrote" for seven years.     

"Pakistan civilian leaders should now move quickly to challenge the Taliban and al Qaeda which threaten its own stability," the New York Times said in its editorial on Pervez Musharraf's resignation from the Presidential post.     

"For seven years President Bush underwrote Musharraf's dictatorship," the paper noted urging Washington to provide more effective and realistic support for Pakistan's fragile democracy.     

"The first challenge is to choose a new civilian president, free from any taint of corruption or complicity with past dictatorships. The presidency must also be stripped of the special dictatorial powers that Musharraf seized for himself, including the power to suspend civil liberties and rule by decree," the editorial said.     

The US Congress, it said, should enact legislation sponsored by Senators Joseph Biden and Richard Lugar that provides for substantial increases in economic assistance and tighter monitoring of military aid.     

"American aid can only make a difference if Pakistan's leaders are finally willing to face up to the country's problems," the Times pointed out.     

It will take personal courage and broad political support, the paper said, to clean up the intelligence forces and finally bring them under civilian control.