FACTBOX: Musharraf's evolving relationship with Washington

Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:36pm EDT
 
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(Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf resigned on Monday to avoid impeachment charges, nearly nine years after the former army chief and key ally in the U.S. campaign against terrorism took power in a coup.

Following are some facts about his relationship with the Bush administration:

* November 3, 1999 - In a test of foreign policy acumen, a television news reporter in Boston asks then-Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush to name the leaders of four global "hot spots," including Pakistan. Bush cannot name Musharraf, who had taken power in a coup a month earlier, referring to him as "the general."

* September 11, 2001 - After Al Qaeda attacks the United States, Musharraf reverses Pakistan's support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, which had sheltered Osama bin Laden's network, and throws its weight behind Bush's war on terrorism. Pakistan's Islamist opposition calls him a U.S. stooge.

* June 2003 - Washington promises billions of dollars in aid for Pakistan -- it hands over more than $10 billion between 2001 and 2008 -- while White House officials say Bush presses Musharraf to move toward democracy and stop extremists from launching attacks on Afghanistan from Pakistan. Many al Qaeda leaders had fled across the border to Pakistan when U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan.

* March 25, 2004 - Bush waives sanctions on Pakistan imposed after Musharraf seized power in a coup, saying this will facilitate a transition to democracy and help the fight against international terrorism.

* July 13, 2007 - Pakistani Islamists burn effigies of Musharraf and Bush in protests against Musharraf's government for ordering an army crackdown on a radical mosque in Islamabad, in which some 100 people are killed. Islamists say Musharraf was doing Washington's bidding.

* December 27, 2007 - Bush condemns the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and urges Pakistan to proceed with planned elections. Washington had worked to convince Musharraf to give up his role as military chief and accept elections and a power-sharing agreement with Bhutto.

* March 25, 2008 - Musharraf, his power shrunk after his allies were trounced in the February 2008 election, swears in a new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani. Bush calls Gilani within hours and the two vow to maintain the countries' alliance against Islamic militants.

* August 18, 2008 - After Musharraf resigns, the United States praises him as a committed partner against terrorism and pledges to keep helping Pakistan fight extremism.

(Compiled by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by David Storey)

 

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