Dr. Bob Hathaway is probably the most ardent policy supporter of Pakistan from the "Inside the Beltway" crowd. He worked for Lee Hamilton when he chaired the House International Relations Committee some years back and has repeatedly called for continued engagement with Pakistan. Sadly, his remarks are starting to sound like our hope for Iran - that the middle class will revolt against the extremists and bring real stability.
PM - US watches events in Pakistan
[This is the print version of story www.abc.net.au]
PM - Thursday, 5 March , 2009 18:22:00
Reporter: Mark Colvin
MARK COLVIN: Pakistan is a nuclear armed state and supposedly part of the front line against militant fundamentalism, all of which makes the situation there desperately worrying for the international community.
The United States in particular counts Pakistan as an ally but it's an increasingly difficult and ambiguous alliance.
Bob Hathaway is director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington, and a frequent visitor to Pakistan.
He talked to me this afternoon about the country's future.
BOB HATHAWAY: I'm actually not entirely pessimistic about Pakistan's future. I continue to be convinced that the vast majority of Pakistanis would like to see a Pakistan much the same way that you or I would like to see it.
If you look at the last elections that were held a year ago, the Islamic parties got wiped out.
Having said that, everything at this point is going in the wrong direction in Pakistan and it presents all of us with truly challenging, serious problems.
MARK COLVIN: You're right that the fundamentalist vote went right down, so if that's the case, then why does the Government actually seem so weak? Why did it, for example, cede complete control of the Swat Valley to the Taliban?
BOB HATHAWAY: Well, the fight against the Islamists is an unpopular fight. Many Pakistanis believe that this is America's war and that a succession of governments, the previous government under General Musharraf and now this government under President Zadari, are fighting the extremists only because America tells them to.
I think that's fundamentally wrong. I think one of the biggest challenges all of us face is to work with the Pakistanis until they get to the point where they understand that the extremists are every bit as much a threat to Pakistan, to themselves, as they are to the rest of us.
MARK COLVIN: Can America do that?
BOB HATHAWAY: Well, obviously Pakistan's got to solve its own problems. The outside world, including the United States, can only do so much. But I think that by supporting political parties, by supporting institutions such as the judiciary system, by working to build an honest, efficient police system I think we can give strength to the people and the groups in Pakistan who share the values that you and I cherish.
MARK COLVIN: That's a long term hearts and minds operation. In the meantime, everything seems to be collapsing almost too fast for that to work.
BOB HATHAWAY: I can't disagree with you. But Pakistan continues to have some substantial strengths. The military, for all its shortcomings and inadequacies, is nonetheless a strong institution. The civil society, the middle class civil society, is a source for great hope. It was the middle class lawyers who took to the streets in 2007 and 2008 in a spontaneous mass movement and that's one of the principal reasons that General Musharraf is no longer running things.
So Pakistan does have some substantial strengths but you're exactly right, a lot of the challenges that face Pakistan are long term challenges.
