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US is tilting away from General

The US is now tilting toward Pakistan’s army elite and moderate forces at the expense of President Pervez Musharraf in a high-stakes move.

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WASHINGTON: The United States is now tilting toward Pakistan’s army elite and moderate forces at the expense of President Pervez Musharraf in a high-stakes move to save a key war-on-terror ally, analysts say.

The analysts have sensed a US policy shift in the last few days. “The US had supported Musharraf rather than the army as an institution,” said Hassan Abbas, an analyst with the John F.Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The army, run by a professional pro-Western elite, is key to the US-led war on terrorism which has seen setbacks in Pakistan, as Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants make inroads in northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan. A threat to cut off military aid, Abbas said, would further focus minds among a military elite that relies on the US for training officers and supplying it with heavy weaponry such as fighter aircraft.

Military circles in Pakistan have already told Abbas there is “increasing unrest” within the army elite who feel Musharraf has sullied not only their popular image but distracted them from their security tasks. Security analyst Andrew Koch also said there were signs that the military had enough of politics.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Pentagon officials are already moving to overhaul the system of US military aid to Pakistan, aiming to pay for achieving specific objectives rather than reimbursing it for money it says it has spent.
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