The promotion of democracy has been a keystone of U.S. President George W. Bush's foreign policy. It is viewed as the antidote to the forces that create terrorism. It's a laudable ideal but easier said than done. Democracy is about more than the ballot box – which gave Hamas power in Gaza.
The result of the recent elections in Pakistan was much happier, but they leave U.S. foreign policy, as it has been conducted in the region, with some real headaches. The United States has been popping off Hellfire missiles from its unmanned Predator drones at suspected al-Qaida sites at the rate of one a month this year compared with one or two a year over the previous three years. They suggest that the United States is trying to get its shots in before the new government shuts down such operations.
Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte had some frosty meetings with the new figures in Pakistan's leadership. They made it clear that it was now the parliament that would decide policy on terrorism and the U.S. alliance, not Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, with whom the administration had enjoyed a special relationship. Musharraf's party received only 20 percent of the vote in the election.
After meeting Negroponte, Nawaz Sharif, head of the Pakistani Muslim League-N, partner with the Pakistan People's Party in a grand coalition, told the press that Pakistan had become a "killing field" which was intolerable and that he could make no commitment to the United States on fighting terrorism. Sharif made it clear that he believes the United States relies too heavily on military means to combat terrorism, to Pakistan's detriment, and wants a more diversified approach.
Negroponte also faced harsh criticism from Pakistani lawyers for the U.S. failure to declare Musharraf's dismissal last year of the chief justice illegal and to support his restoration and that of other dismissed judges.
Democracy in Pakistan is still a shaky structure. But the recent election made a couple of things clear. A large majority of Pakistanis threw their support behind civilian-led democratic parties and rejected the religious parties who received only 4 percent of the vote. Polls show even less support for al-Qaida. The organization seems to be its own best antidote. Wherever it goes it alienates whatever local support it had.
The other side of the coin is that Pakistanis are as unenthusiastic about the U.S. war on terror as they are about al-Qaida and this is reflected in the views of the new parliamentary majority. Pakistan is suffering from terrorism as suicide bombers have hit Pakistani cities. Like any democracy, Pakistan wants to fight the terror threat on terms that it decides for itself.
That may complicate things for U.S. diplomacy but it is the price to be paid for working with other democracies, a price the United States should pay happily.