Musharraf finally gives up "saving" Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Faced with the humiliation of impeachment, former army chief Pervez Musharraf quit as Pakistan president on Monday, having lost political, popular and increasingly even U.S. support.
Born in New Delhi on August 11, 1943, Musharraf arrived with his parents in Karachi, Pakistan's first capital, a day after the Partition of India in 1947.
A career army officer, Musharraf came to power in a 1999 coup, went on to be a close U.S. ally in the war against terror, and narrowly survived al Qaeda-inspired assassination attempts.
His enemies said he betrayed Islam by caving in to U.S. pressure to abandon support for the Taliban government hosting al Qaeda in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
He believed he saved Pakistan.
The U.S. government sank more than $11 billion into Pakistan, mostly its military, and expected Musharraf to produce results.
Pakistan captured hundreds of al Qaeda, and lost over 1,000
soldiers fighting in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. Yet suspicions lingered that Pakistani intelligence agencies played a double-game, allowing the Taliban safe refuge.
The alliance with the United States was always a hard sell in Pakistan, and contributed to Musharraf's unpopularity.
Regarded as a military dictator, he was treated initially as a pariah by the West, but at home was seen as a different kind of general when he first seized power.
He had a friendly, straight-talking charm and after a decade of inept, corrupt civilian rule, many Pakistanis welcomed the overthrow of prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
Musharraf's favorite film was "Gladiator", the tale of an honorable general who saves Rome from a wicked emperor.
SAVIOUR COMPLEX
Critics say Musharraf suffered from a "savior complex", believing he was indispensable for Pakistan, but in late 2007, people welcomed back from exile Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, the leaders they were disillusioned with a decade earlier.
Musharraf had promised to return Pakistan to democracy, but critics say he stifled political freedom. Continued...
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