Musharraf’s Second Coup | PCR in the News

Big events in Pakistan this weekend as President Musharraf declared martial law, detaining opposition leaders, blacking out domestic and international tv news sources, and replacing multiple supreme court justices. This story is evolving quickly, with particular attention focused on the U.S. response - especially regarding the some $150 million per month in U.S. aid that Pakistan receives. PCR's report A Perilous Course: U.S. Strategy and Assistance to Pakistan, has been mentioned in several news reports so far, including this NYTimes piece:

Through it all, the United States has continued pumping money to the country. While the total dollar amount of American aid to Pakistan is unclear, a study published in August by the Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated it to be “at least $10 billion in Pakistan since 9/11, excluding covert funds.” Sixty percent of that has gone to “Coalition Support Funds,” essentially direct payments to the Pakistani military, and 15 percent to purchase major weapons systems. Another 15 percent has been for general budget support for the Pakistani government; only 10 percent for development or humanitarian assistance.

PCR Project Co-Director Rick Barton was also quoted in the AP:

"Let's not be delusional about the U.S. government's influence. This is a huge, complex country, and most everything is going to happen outside of our play," said Rick Barton, a Pakistan expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "But we can be a leader here." By putting military rule ahead of the rights of his people, Musharraf has presented Bush with a test of sincerity of his freedom agenda, Barton said. "Let's just accept that Musharraf's probably going to go down," he said. "Let's just do the right thing, and be seen by the Pakistanis as holding true to our own values and principles. Musharraf has clearly moved from being a force of moderation to being somebody who's more of a self-serving leader."

PCR Fellow and lead author of A Perilous Course, Craig Cohen, was featured in this Boston Globe piece and in Bloomberg.