Bhutto void requires wider U.S. outreach in Pakistan

By Paul Eckert, Asia Correspondent - Analysis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Friday it was reaching out to a wide range of political players in Pakistan after the death of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto -- a move critics said Washington should have begun years ago.

As Bhutto was buried amid violent protests across Pakistan, U.S. officials contacted representatives of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, the parties backing President Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan Muslim League/Nawaz party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

The message, according to State Department spokesman Tom Casey, was a mixture of condolences and encouragement to continue a political transition to democracy that many analysts fear has been shattered by Bhutto's assassination on Thursday.

The United States, which worked hard to broker an arrangement that allowed Bhutto to return from exile and to convince Musharraf to hold elections and share power with her, now faces a huge void with its key anti-terrorism ally.

"Without her on the scene, the way forward is a lot dimmer and harder to grasp," said analyst Frank Wisner, a retired diplomat and executive of the AIG insurance firm.

But Wisner said the guiding principle for U.S. policy must be: "We don't have a relationship with one person or any leader or leaders. We have a relationship with Pakistan."

Casey rejected suggestions that Washington was looking to groom a new favorite in Pakistan.

"U.S. policy isn't to anoint candidates or pick leaders for Pakistan or for any other country," he said.

"Our goal in Pakistan is to support a political process, to support the development of democracy, to support a government that has the broadest possible support from all that country's people," Casey said.

"DECLINING ASSET" MUSHARRAF

Critics of U.S. policy in Pakistan say the energy spent on achieving that goal has come too little and too late -- following eight years of backing army strongman and President Musharraf as the only man able to combat Islamic militancy.

"This idea that Musharraf can get out there and wage the good fight is really folly," said RAND Corp analyst Christine Fair.

Musharraf has been a "declining asset since 2004," when he started cutting deals with Islamists to remain in power, she said. He lacked Bhutto's ability to sell the war on terrorism to the public and is now widely, if unfairly, blamed in Pakistan for her death, added Fair.

Fair's advice to U.S. policymakers is "the same it was a week ago and the same as it was five years ago: They need to really reach into the Pakistani polity and engage with a much larger scope of actors than just the army and Musharraf."

Such an outreach would "broaden the U.S. portfolio of relations" in Pakistan to opposition politicians, human rights commissions, lawyers and NGOs, she said.