HARRY SMITH, anchor:
Meanwhile, the
Bush administration said today it hopes to work with whatever new government is formed in Pakistan. But now that President Musharraf's party has lost big in parliamentary elections, many wonder if the Pakistanis will still want to help the United States fight the
war on
terror. Mark Phillips is in Islamabad.
MARK PHILLIPS reporting:
As he voted, Pervez Musharraf said he would live with any result in this election. Now he'll have to. So will the United States. Musharraf's sworn political enemies have demolished his party at the polls and may even force him from office. America's key ally is looking like yesterday's man. This is the man with power in Pakistan today: Benazir Bhutto's widower, Asif Zardari, the prime minister in waiting. Already he's distancing himself from America's war against Islamic militants in his country.
Mr. ASIF ALI ZARDARI (Co-Chairman, Pakistan Peoples Party): I think the whole war on terror has been defined wrong. It is a war of terror against Pakistan and we have to fight it as our war.
PHILLIPS: Which may mean taking fewer orders from Washington. Musharraf's US ties made him hugely unpopular at home. Having a democratically elected ally, say the US senators here for the vote, may be a good thing.
Senator JOSEPH BIDEN (Chairman, Foreign Relations Committee): And the idea that Musharraf is waging a full-blown, billion dollar campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban is simply not true. It's simply not true.
PHILLIPS: But can you count on the next group?
Sen. BIDEN: Well, can you count on a do as well as they've been doing now?
PHILLIPS: The US may have cooled to Pervez Musharraf even before this election, but whatever his failings as a partner in the fight against terror, at least dealing with one man was simple. Power has now been fragmented here; dealing with Pakistan is not a lot messier. Mark Phillips, CBS News, Islamabad.
