As seen in America

The US media has offered all kinds of comments about President Asif Ali Zardari. There is divergence of views at the official and media levels .The US administration officially has so far not been critical of Zardari's handling of war against terrorism or his efforts to dig roots of democracy in Pakistan. Some scepticism has, however, been expressed through leaked stories quoting unnamed official sources. The Bush administration which has been expressing concern in the past that Pakistan was not doing enough to fight the militants, has said that they were confident that Mr Zardari's government would continue or even increase its counterterrorism campaign, despite the threat of continuing attacks by extremists. The American government says that it is trying to extend every possible help to Zardari government to strengthen democracy in Pakistan and make it a strong ally in the war against terrorism.
During his visit to USA, President Asif Ali Zardari met with representatives of a group of donor countries, including the United States and Saudi Arabia, in an attempt to mobilise $5 billion to prevent Pakistan from defaulting on its debts. But no firm commitments were made in this meeting. The US is having its own financial 9/11, banking sector in crises, jobs are dwindling, stocks are unstable, houses foreclosures are on the rise and economy is moving towards recession. No body knows when there would be a turn around. These are not encouraging signs for Zardari to get urgently any money from the US to bail out Pakistan from its economic mess. To compound Pakistan's difficulties is the failure of Saudi Arabia, a traditional benefactor, to defer payment for the 100,000 barrels of oil Pakistan imports daily.
But there is a realisation that Pakistan as a defaulter is not in the interest of the USA and the West because it is a frontline state against the war on terrorism. As an inheritor of the power sharing deal brokered by the US between Benazir Bhutto and General Musharraf, Zardari is generally treated here by the administration and the media with sentiments of patronage.
Converging point of different opinions about Zardari is that he is a flawed leader, with not much political experience and a history tainted by charges of corruption. "But (in spite of that as an elected president) he deserves a chance, and American support, to fulfil his promises to bolster democracy, clean up Pakistan's intelligence services and work with the United States to defeat terrorism," said an editorial of the largest newspaper. However, stories like Pakistan's faith in its new leader is shaken continue to appear from time to time.
Publicly conflicting statements by the two countries have surfaced over the conduct of the war against terrorism and excursions by drones into the Pakistani territory. The most recent incident was the exchange of fire between the forces of Pakistan and the US. While Admiral Michael Mullen confirmed that the two sides engaged in a brief firefight in the last week of September but Asif Zardari on September 26 denied exchange of fire along the Pak-Afghan border. He has played down such incidents calling as inadvertent intrusion into our territory by the US drones. Despite Zardari's attempt to low key reaction, Pakistan's military threatened to shoot American troops if they launch another raid into Pakistan. Whether the threat is real or meant solely for domestic consumption, there is a real danger of miscalculation that would be catastrophic for both countries, said an editorial of an American newspaper.