Musharraf

The civil society in Pakistan has taken down President Musharraf, not with military might or mass revolts, but with political pressure. Whether Musharraf is loved or hated, we have to applaud Pakistan's political maturity. They, as Bolivia did just a week ago, exercised their rights through law and politics to determine the course their country would take. The peaceful release of presidential power by Musharraf stands in stark contrast to Pakistan's long history of military coups and assassinations.

This is what democracy looks like. It is a complex system that must go beyond the right to vote, far beyond. Elections can only skim the surface of democracy. The pulls and levers, checks and balance, the right to stick with, as in Bolivia, or replace, as in Pakistan, the elected leader: this is true democracy.

Missing in the presidential debate over Pakistan are two critical points, first, it was the U.S. strategy in the war on terror, resulting in the disappearances of more than 500 Pakistani citizens, that triggered the erosion of General Musharraf's support. Second, that neither the Taleban nor the United States are well liked in Pashtun areas. Unless the next U.S. administration takes these two facts to heart, says American Strategy Program Senior Research Fellow Anatol Lieven writing in The National Interest, Pakistan will soon be lost to extremism.

Pakistan's parliamentary elections may have significantly backfied on President Musharraf, says New America President and CEO Steve Coll appearing on Jim Lehrer's The News Hour.