WASHINGTON, Aug 20: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto will be heading back to London after a three-week hiatus in New York, where she waited for a positive response from President Gen Pervez Musharraf, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Ms Bhutto came to New York shortly after a reported meeting with Gen Musharraf in Abu Dhabi last month, apparently for talks with US officials on a power-sharing arrangement between her and President Gen Musharraf.

“More than merely deciding who rules Pakistan, global conflict against radical Islam may be at risk,” the newspaper observed while commenting on the Musharraf-Bhutto talks.

Gen Musharraf and Ms Bhutto ended their “tense encounter” in the United Arab Emirates with key issues unresolved, the report added.

“Thus, the subsequent silence by the Pakistani strongman is ominous,” the Post observed. “If Musharraf is backing away from a power-sharing arrangement and is intent on being elected president without Bhutto as a partner, they are on a collision course.”

The promises that Gen Musharraf made during his three and half hours one-to-one meeting with Ms Bhutto in Abu Dhabi were yet to be fulfilled, the report added.

The Post believes that the constant backing that President Musharraf receives from the White House has made Ms Bhutto impatient with the US, and Islamabad’s ‘ominous silence’ has made her more determined to return to Pakistan after being in ‘self-exile’ for eight years.

“She is heavily favoured in elections scheduled for this autumn as leader of the Pakistan People’s Party. But Gen Musharraf wants his election as president while Ms Bhutto is still in exile,” the paper noted. “Time is running out, with agreement needed in early September.”

The paper noted that although this was not the time for Ms Bhutto to criticise the Americans, “she is known to be impatient about the US forbearance toward and persistent support of Musharraf”.

Ms Bhutto, who is “nearing a climax in her remarkable life”, says she wants to make Pakistan a democratic ally in the war on terror and will confront extremists in the madressahs “that brainwash our children into intolerance”.

The report described the Bush administration as “the silent matchmaker for an unlikely political marriage of bitter opponents: Gen Musharraf, and Ms Bhutto”.

According to the Post, the unstated US goal in trying to arrange a deal between the two leaders “is a democratic Pakistan, with the unpopular Musharraf retaining his presidency and the popular Bhutto returned to the prime minister’s office”. Washington now views this as the means of making Pakistan a reliable, invaluable ally against worldwide terrorism.

Veteran Post journalist Robert D. Novak recalled that he last saw Ms Bhutto in the autumn of 2005 at the Washington home of prominent Democrat Mark Siegel, a long-time Bhutto supporter.

“She pulled me aside to contend that Musharraf was not a dependable ally in fighting terrorism. I listened politely but put it down as typical exile talk,” Mr Novak wrote. “However, she proved prophetic when Musharraf cut a deal with Pakistani tribal groups in 2006, creating a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.”

Mr Novak met Ms Bhutto again last week in Manhattan and observed that “she was much softer in her criticism of Musharraf now that she is negotiating with him. She is pledged to secrecy about even admitting that they met”.

But sources close to Ms Bhutto told Mr Novak that on July 29 they met in Abu Dhabi — her principal residence in exile. “They were alone, one-on-one, for 3 1/2 hours, until each summoned aides to brief them.”

“General Musharraf has promised confidence-building measures that have not yet been undertaken,” she told Mr Novak. “I await him to fulfil his promises.”