NEW YORK, July 29: In the aftermath of unofficial talks between President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto a conservative American newspaper has said the Bush administration should “nudge Mr Musharraf towards a compromise with his non-radical opposition that would restore genuine democracy while strengthening his ability to challenge the jihadists.”

“It is the best option the general has,” said the Wall Street Journal on Saturday in a review of events.

Saying “for the Bush Administration, Pakistani succession is, after Iraq, its toughest foreign policy dilemma,” the WSJ noted that “the coming months will present Mr Musharraf with some fateful choices.

If he agrees to resign his military commission, he could strike a power-sharing agreement with non-religious opponents. This could allow him to remain in power past parliamentary elections later this year. The alternative is to curry favour with Islamic parties and factions, with all the risks that entails.

Mr Musharraf could also declare martial law — a guarantee of further long-term instability.

It observed that “though the Bush Administration is glibly mocked for making Mr Musharraf an “exception” to the Bush Doctrine, the US has no interest in destabilising a nuclear-armed government already under a jihadist threat.

Jimmy Carter made that mistake with the Shah of Iran, another imperfect Muslim ruler whose successors were infinitely worse. Pakistan is not the Philippines, a Catholic country with long ties to the US whose political culture we well understood when Reagan pushed Marcos from power in 1986.”

The premier financial publication nevertheless noted “it’s easy to forget that Pakistan has prospered under Mr Musharraf and his prime minister, former Citibank executive Shaukat Aziz. Annual GDP growth averaged 7.2 per cent in the past three years, according to World Bank data; the inflation rate, which hovered at 23.8 per cent in 2000, has fallen to single digits. International confidence is reflected in foreign direct investment, which rose to $2.2 billion in 2005 from $308 million five years earlier.”

“Relations with India may be as good as they’ve been since 1947. The government responded well to the devastating October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, preventing what many thought would be a far worse humanitarian crisis. Pakistan was instrumental in capturing key September 11 plotters Ramzi Binalshibh and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, among others. A.Q. Khan was put under house arrest, and his network rolled up. For his troubles, Mr. Musharraf has repeatedly been the target of jihadist assassination attempts, the most recent earlier this month.”

The Journal reflects “yet the general has also had his failures. He refused to honour a previous pledge to resign as army chief of staff, angering the non-Islamist opposition.

He inspired more anger this year by attempting to oust the chief justice of the Supreme Court; that his attempt ended in failure this month is a tribute to the resilience of the rule of law in Pakistan. But it also demonstrated a political tin ear by Mr. Musharraf, who has yet to earn the democratic legitimacy he needs to preside over a credible regime.”